LAND BIRDS. 705 
probability nests frequently in northern Michigan, the present species 
usually passes north of our limits and we have little reason to believe that 
it ever nests in this state. Several observers report it as a summer resident, 
and Mr. §. E. White states that he found a nest with four newly fledged 
young on Mackinac Island July 20, 1889; it seems quite probable however, 
that the nest found was that of the Golden-crown. The nests found in 
Colorado and Montana are described as very bulky, half pendant, and 
composed of mosses, bark strips, feathers, fur and similar soft materials, 
and placed near the ends of pine or spruce branches at some little height 
from the ground. The eggs are said to be eight or ten in number, of a 
dirty cream color, more or less spotted, but the spots quite faint, as in the 
case of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. The eggs average .55 by .43 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Upper parts grayish olive, with a yellowish tinge on the rump; crown with 
a small patch of bright red; under parts yellowish or grayish white; two light (yellowish 
white) wing-bars and wing and tail-feathers usually edged with yellowish. The adult 
female and the young of the year are similar except that they lack the red patch on the 
crown. 
Length 3.75 to 4.60 inches; wing 2.20 to 2.30; tail 1.85 to 1.90. 
318. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Polioptila czrulea cerulea (Linn.). (751) 
Synonyms: Gnatcatcher, Common Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray Flycatcher.—Motacilla 
eerulea, Linn., 1766.—Muscicapa cerulea, Wils., 1810.—Culicivora caerulea, Jardine, 
1832.—Polioptila cerulea of most authors. 
Another tiny species, rivaling the kinglets in daintiness. The upper 
parts are clear bluish-gray, deepest on the head, lightest on the rump, 
the under parts almost white, merely tinted with bluish. Middle tail- 
feathers black, outer two pairs mostly white. The male has a narrow 
black line across the forehead and over each eye, which the female lacks. 
Distribution.—Middle and southern portions of eastern United States, 
south in winter to Guatemala, Cuba and the Bahamas; rarely north to 
the Great Lakes, southern New York and southern New England, acci- 
dentally north to Massachusetts and Maine. Breeds throughout its 
United States range, and winters from the South Atlantic and Gulf States 
scuthward. 
This bird is a summer resident of southern Michigan, and, during some 
years and in some places, is fairly abundant; during other years hardly 
seen at all. As a rule it seems to be confined to the three southernmost 
tiers of counties, yet it is not uncommon about Grand Rapids, has been 
reported from the neighborhood of Port Huron, St. Clair county, and there 
are several records from points still farther north. Wood & Frothingham 
record it seen in Crawford county, August 10, 1903, and Mr. 8. E. White 
shot one and saw another on Mackinac Island September 22, 1889. This 
species appears never to have been killed at any Michigan Lighthouse. 
In Ontario, according to MclIlwraith, the Gnatcatcher is limited to the 
southwest border, north of which it has never been observed; and in Wiscon- 
sin, according to Kumlien & Hollister, it is common only in the southern 
tier of counties, except ‘along Lake Michigan, where it is found in few 
numbers as far north as Manitowoc county” (about 44°). 
It arrives from the south late in April, the earliest date at Ann Arbor 
in twenty-five years being given as April 4, 1895, and the average time 
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