198 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



301. Polioptila caerulea (Linn.). Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a permanent resident wintering 

 regularly, as well as breeding abundantly in the vicinity of Char- 

 leston. The birds are sometimes very hard to detect during the 

 winter, and at that season frequent the interior of large swamps 

 where they find food and shelter. On December 15, 1885, I 

 saw about a dozen and shot four specimens, near what is now 

 the Navy Yard, and I herewith give a few dates on which others 

 have been taken: January 10, 1889, one taken at TurnbulFs 

 (Navy Yard); January 2, 1893, shot one near Mount Pleasant; 

 December 26, 1898, saw two and obtained one near Mount Pleas- 

 ant; February 4, 1903, one taken near Mount Pleasant. All the 

 specimens taken are apparently immature birds and the question 

 is, where do the adults winter? As they are presumably more 

 hardy than the young, the assumption would be that some of them, 

 at least, winter at points along the coast to the northward of 

 Charleston. This is, however, not the case for there are no rec- 

 ords of their wintering in North Carolina. That the young 

 should winter and not the adults is certainly very strange. 



The birds that do not winter generally make their appearance 

 about March 7, the earliest date being March 2, 1891, and by the 

 middle of the month, or the third week, mating commences. 

 The song of the male at this season is indeed beautiful and full 

 of sweetness in spite of the small size of the singer. Both sexes 

 assist in nest building and I have often observed both working on 

 their beautiful home at the same time. The nest is built in a 

 crotch or on a horizontal limb, from twelve to seventy feet above 

 the ground, and from a distance it resembles a knot. Most of the 

 nests I have examined were built in live oak trees and the birds 

 undoubtedly prefer such trees because nesting material is plen- 

 tiful. The nest is constructed of plant fibers, tendrils, and fine 

 grasses, externally ornamented with lichens that grow on live 

 oak and other trees; the lichens being placed on the exterior of 

 the nest in the same manner as they grow on trees, i. e. with the 

 light bluish gray side outward. By a free use of spiders' webs 

 the lichens are firmly held in place. Most of the nests are lined 

 with fine grass and plant fibers, but I have taken a few that are 

 profusely lined with feathers. 



The eggs, which are four or five in number, are greenish blue 

 or bluish white, profusely speckled with reddish brown, and 



