214 Notes on the Breeding of a few Western Birds. (March, 
and succeeded in shooting it for positive identification. The 
beautiful little structure was shaped like a purse, and the con- 
tracted rim was worn around two or three little shoots of the 
limb, the nest hanging free. It was about six inches in length 
and was composed of mosses, shreds of vegetable fiber, inner 
strips of bark and lichens, all woven into a thick, strong felt, and 
the bottom on which the eggs lay was softened with willow down 
and feathers. The entrance to this remarkable structure was a 
small hole, not an inch in diameter, placed at the very top, and 
concealed by some leaves of the bush skillfully woven over it. 
The eggs, six in number in each nest, were unlike those of the 
rest of the family in being pure spotless white, without gloss. 
They were very delicate and not over a-half an inch in length. 
Another minute little bird, but of another family, is the black- 
headed gnat-catcher (Polioptila melanura). 1 first saw this gnat- 
catcher, to recognize it, at Indio, on the Colorado desert. There 
were a great many gnat-catchers around Los Angeles, but I did 
not notice them closely or shoot any, taking them all to be the 
blue-gray species. At Indio, however, in the clumps of mesquite. 
trees, which first appear here, I saw numbers of these little birds 
and then recognized them as the black-headed species. There is 
a species of mistletoe which grows thickly in nearly every mes- 
quite tree, and in it, after close search and watching, a pair of the 
birds. I found their nest woven to the branches in the heart of 
the parasitic plant. It was a delicate little structure, composed of 
various vegetable fibers, a down from some plant and fine strips 
of bark, compactly matted together and lined with the same 
downy material. The nests were not as handsome as those of | 
the blue-gray gnat-catcher, but were very neat and elegant. The 
first nest found contained three young birds and one egg, but 
further search discovered another nest with four eggs in, slightly 
incubated. The eggs, about the size of those of the blue-gray — 
species, were of a lighter color and more thickly marked with 
black and reddish spots. Later, in Arizona, I noticed the remain- 
ing species of gnat-catcher peculiar to our fauna, the Arizona OF 
lead-colored gnat-catcher (Polioptila plumbea). It was too late at 
the time to find either eggs or young ones in the nest, as all that 
I saw were in little families—the parents and young brood. 
At Indio I likewise first noticed a bird which became more 
common and familiar in Arizona, viz., the black-crested fly-catchet 
