BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 95 
and the sharp accents of the voice are modulated into sweet and tender song, so low 
as to be inaudible at any considerable distance, yet so faultlessly executed and well sus- 
tained that the tiny musician may claim no mean rank in the feathered choir. A little 
later still we may, perchance, if our eyes are sharp, and we know just where to look, 
discover the extremely beautiful nest which the Blue-gray makes for itself—a structure 
which cannot fail to excite our wonder and admiration. Excepting the Hummingbird’s 
nest, none can compare with this exquisite specimen of bird architecture, cunningly con- 
trived to combine elegance with comfort, artfully rendered substantial without sacrifice 
of good taste, and ingeniously screened from observation by the same means that are 
employed for its ornamentation. True to its aspirations, the bird nestles high in the 
trees, usually at least twenty yards from the ground, placing the fabric among slender 
twigs, to which it js woven, oftenest to the extremity of a bough which sways with 
the wind. To insure the safety of its contents during the motion to which it is oftenest 
subjected, it is built remarkably deep, and contracted at the orifice, so that the cavity 
is somewhat purse-shaped, and the general shape outside is like that of a truncated 
cone. It seems large for the size of the bird—it is sometimes three and a half inches in 
height, and nearly as much in width at the base, with a diameter of two inches at the 
brim. The walls are closely and warmly matted or felted with the softest vegetable 
material, the decomposed fibres of various plants, thistle-down, and like substances, in 
some cases woven with spider’s webs.... The structure is artistically finished with 
stucco-work of lichens all over the outside, which serves the double purpose of perfecting 
its beauty and making it resemble a natural excrescence. In such an elegant cradle, 
eggs are laid, to the number of four, five, or even six, measuring scarcely three-fifths of 
an inch in length and less than half an inch in their greatest diameter— white in color 
speckled and dashed, generally over the whole surface, with several shades of reddish or 
umber brown and lilac. In such a secure home as this, the Blue-gray Flycatcher usually 
rears its brood unmolested; it has little to fear except from the Cowbird and from the 
ornithologist, against which enemies no art avails. The parasitic bird might have its 
own excuse to offer, could its motives be called in question; the other may apologize, 
after a fashion, by averring that even this slight sketch of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher’s 
life could not be finished had the nest never been rifled.” 
A few of the Blue-grays spend the winter even in south-eastern Texas, especially 
in the magnolias, hollies, and other evergreens which skirt the bayous and rivers. 
During one of the cold ‘“‘northers,”’ which, from November to March, sway so frequently 
over the fields and prairies of Texas, they come in company with Titmice, Kinglets, and 
Myrtle Warblers into the gardens of Houston, where they rove cheerfully about among 
the trees and shrubs, busily engaged in hunting for insects. But it is in spring and 
summer, when the forest trees have donned their coats of green, that the Gnatcatcher 
adds pleasure to the locality in which it has chosen its home. It is then constantly 
employed in catching the buzzing and flying insects, and this is done with such swift- 
ness, dexterity, and grace of motion, as is the case. with none of our other birds. 
Its favorite haunts are always the tops of high forest trees, from which it often descends 
in zig-zag lines nearly to the ground. The richest table is served to our Gnatcatcher and 
other small birds about the end of April and the beginning of May, when the magnificent, 
