244 THE BLUE-GREY FLYCATCHER. 



yellow; edges of all the quills dull greyish-white; secondaries with a faint 

 patch of light brownish-grey on the outer web toward the end; middle tail- 

 feathers greyish-brown, the rest blackish-brown, the outer with an oblique 

 white space, including, from the tip, a considerable portion of the inner web, 

 and more than two-thirds of the outer; the next with a white patch at the 

 end; lower parts paler than the upper; lower tail and wing-coverts broadly 

 tipped with dull white, some of the inner wing-coverts white. 



Female, 8|-, wing, 4|. 



Columbia River. 



Genus IV.— CULICIVORA, Sivains. GNAT-CATCHER. 



Bill of moderate length, depressed at the base, rapidly attenuated, becom- 

 ing very slender toward the end; upper mandible with the ridge distinct, the 

 tip extremely narrow and deflected, the edges overlapping, the notch distinct, 

 but very small; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, the ridge 

 narrowed toward the end, the edges inclinate, the tip acute. Nostrils oblong, 

 exposed. Head ovate; neck short; body slender. Feet of moderate length, 

 tarsus longer than the middle toe, extremely slender, with the upper scutella 

 indistinct; "toes very small, extremely compressed; hind toe proportionally 

 very large; outer adherent at the base. Claws well arched, extremely com- 

 pressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plumage very soft and blended. Wings 

 of moderate length, concave; the first quill about a third of the length of the 

 second, fourth longest, third and fifth little shorter. Tail long, slender, much 

 rounded. 



THE BLUE-GREY FLYCATCHER. 



CULICIVORA CCERTTLEA, Lath. 



PLATE LXX.— Male and Female. 



This diminutive lively bird is rendered peculiarly conspicuous by its being 

 frequently the nurse or foster-parent of the young Cow Bunting, the real 

 mother of which drops her egg in its nest. A few individuals of this spe- 

 cies remain in Louisiana during spring and summer, and breed there; but the 



