The Western Gnatcatcher 
becomes again a mere animated atom, a craving bundle of selfishness, 
the very symbol of inconstancy. 
Wherefore, O Bird, I take your protestations cum grano satis. You 
are not you, ipse cognitus, you are only a prophecy, an expression of 
a Greater, who is for a time moved to express a high purpose through 
a bit of clay, and will presently withdraw himself again. Him I hear, 
and rejoice. But you? Shall I respect you in very sooth, Birdikins? 
Xay, not with my soul. My ear, indeed, is charmed. My eye has 
ceased not to mark with delight your very dainty motions. Imagination 
has been purified and aspiration stimulated. But—but—not with my 
soul. You—you have no soul. You are not yourself. You have— 
you are no self. For a Self were by very definition immortal. And I 
love only the immortals. Farewell! poor—dear— bird. 
No. 157 
Western Gnatcatcher 
A. O. U. No. 751a. Polioptila caerulea obscura Ridgway. 
Synonym.— Western Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 
Description. —Adult male: A U-shaped mark, involving extreme forehead and 
superciliaries, black; a narrow eye-ring white; pileum deep blue-gray (deep Payne’s 
gray); cervix and sides of head, including lores, back, scapulars, and rump, light blue- 
gray (clear Payne's gray), with admixture of neutral gray; wings plain gray, the coverts 
and edgings sometimes tinged with bluish, the rentiges fuscous; tail and its upper 
coverts black, the lateral pair of rectrices white on the outer web, except basally, and on 
terminal half of inner web, its shaft black throughout; the succeeding pair white on 
terminal half of outer web and terminal quarter of inner; the third pair tipped only with 
white; underparts dull white, with more or less bluish gray shading on sides of neck and 
sides. Bill and feet black; iris brown. Adult female: Like male, but without black on 
head; pileum like back—dull bluish gray, intermingled with brownish gray. Immature 
birds are much like adult females, but have conspicuous edging of pale gray or white on 
the outer web of the tertials. This feature is retained by the male for a season after the 
acquisition of the L’-shaped frontal mark. Length about 114.3 (4.50); wing and tail 
50 (1.97); bill 9-11 (-35-43); tarsus 17.4 (.685). 
Recognition Marks. —Pygmy size; blue-gray coloration with black-and-white 
tail; black of head much restricted, as compared with P. plumbea; also white of lateral 
tail-feathers much more extensive, and wings more nearly uniform gray than plumbea; 
lighter, larger, and more purely white below than P. calif'ornica, from which it is 
further definitely distinguished by presence of white in tail. 
Nesting. — Nest: A deep cup of felted vegetable fibers, lined or not with plant- 
down and feathers, bound with cobwebs, and ornamented or not with lichens; placed 
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