94 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 
I have observed the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher from northern Illinois to Texas and 
Florida. In the northern part of its breeding range it seems to be everywhere a rare 
bird, even in southern New England. It is evidently restricted to the Carolinian fauna, 
rarely occuring north of latitude 42°. In the dense bottom woods of Missouri and thence 
southward, it is everywhere a common bird. It is more numerous than is generally 
thought, as it takes its abode high in the tops of huge bottom-wood trees, elms, 
magnolias, and other forest giants. Only by him who is acquainted with the habits of 
this dimunitive woodland species, is it easily found. Near Houston, Texas, these birds 
arrive from their winter quarters in the later part of March, or early in April; in south- 
western Missouri they rarely make their appearance before April 15. By the last of 
that month they are all back again in their summer home. In northern Illinois, where 
they are very rare, they are not met before the last week of April or in May. 
Although well acquainted with this sprightly little bird, I cannot but quote 
from Dr. Elliott Coues’ admirable work on the “Birds of the Colorado Valley”: 
“In the Colorado Basin, this Gnatcatcher is sparingly but generally distributed in sum- 
mer, and resident, as far as the whole area is concerned, though partially migratory 
within its limits, since those individuals that repair to northerly or alpie districts to 
breed, retire in the fall to the lower warmer portions. At Fort Whipple, in the spring 
of 1865, I did not notice their presence until the Jast week in April; but as I was not 
then collecting every day, I may have missed them on their first appearance. At Wash- 
ington, D. C., where they are more numerous than I have found them to be anywhere 
in the West, I used to note their arrival each spring for several years in the early part 
of April. On entering the noble oak forests which still surround the city, at a time 
when the buds, though swollen, have not yet burst into the leafy canopy which later 
covers the nakedness of the branches and gives privacy to the life of numberless sylvan 
species besides the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, I seldom missed first hearing, then seeing, 
these wayward and capricious little creatures. Though so near the most uncertain and 
dangerous spot in America— Washington, ‘Mecca of the unfortunate and the tomh of 
ambition,’ the Blue-grays seem to have no fears for the success of their recent pilgrimage 
from the South, and indulge the aspirations of the day. Not content with the low estate 
of the shrubbery, which seems best suited to shelter their insignificance, they mount the 
tallest trees, and go the rounds with all the bluster and display of assured success. 
From the tree-tops come the shrill noisy notes, two or three at a time, like tzee-tzee-tzee, 
as the birds skip nimbly from twig to twig, with lowering half-spread wings and nervous 
twitching of the whole body, in eager quest of insects and larve, now pausing a moment 
to pry more closely into a suspected crevice of the bark, then darting into the air to 
capture a passing fly, and regaining their perch after almost a somersault. Restless and 
bustling as all its actions are at such times, there is something more remarkable still in 
the excessive eagerness betrayed, and the wonderful é/an with which they dash upon 
their prey—as if they would crowd the business of a lifetime into its early days, and 
seize its prizes with the first impetuous assault. We must admire such spirit, even after 
we have learned it is unsafe. 
“Days passed in this incessant activity, this impetuous revolt from the monotony 
of idleness, till other impulses are stimulated with the warmth of the advancing season, 
