BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER 



141 



pick up only drones, who are stingless and at 

 the approach of winter are destined to be killed 

 anyway. 



There are blank pages on which to record your 

 own observations about this point. 



BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER 



This pretty little fellow seems to me like a 

 miniature Catbird in appearance and motions. 

 The song, too, is like tiny Catbird music, but 

 faint and squeaky, in- 

 terspersed with a call- 

 note like the tank of a 

 broken fiddle-string. 



It is a delight to 

 watch the pair at 

 work on their nest, 

 with a great deal of 

 flitting and fussing 

 and frequent enthusi- 

 astic bursts of song. 

 Fine strips of bark, tendrils, and grasses are 

 woven into a deep symmetrical cup, which is 

 covered outside with lichens that blend it exactly 

 with the bark, and bound with spider web and 

 other insect silk, making on the whole the very 

 prettiest nest I know of in all the woods. Four 

 or five speckled bluish eggs are laid. 



BLUE -GRAY GNATCATCHER 

 Length 4% inches 



