Auk, XIII, July, 1896, pp-^(>'i-S'- 



Second Occurrence of the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher in Maine.— On the 

 morning of April i8, 1896, while driving past a farm-yard on Cape Eliza- 

 beth, about three miles from Portland, I heard the nasal call-note of a 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher {Polioptila cmrulea). In another moment I saw 

 the bird fly from an old oak to an orchard close at hand. Here I watched 

 him at my leisure. He was very active, but not at all shy, coming sev- 

 eral times within eight or ten feet of me, constantly calling, often singing, 

 and repeatedly, of course, displaying his characteristic form and colors. 

 There was no bird of any kind with him. An hour later, I drove past the 

 farm-yard again, and found him still in the neighborhood, having simply 

 crossed the highway. He was still entirely alone. I drove within a few 

 feet of him, and watched him for several minutes,— until he again flew 

 off into the orchard. 



The weather throughout New England was almost summer-like for a 

 week preceding April 18, and to this fact, perhaps, was due the bird's long 



journev from the usual haunts of his kind. 



" The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has not been seen in Maine before in spring, 



and has been positively identified in the State but once before.' — 



Nathan Clifford Brown , Portland, Me. ^ 



' See Bulletin Nutt. Orn. Club, V, pp. 236-37. 



A New Bird (Polioptila cmrulea) for Maine. — Two summers ago, 

 while I was sitting on the piazza of my father's house on Cape Elizabeth, 

 a little bluish bird suddenly showed himself in a thicket of alder, cedar, 

 and wild-cherry bushes, not twenty feet distant. Had I been a few de- 

 grees farther south, I should have let him go, unchallenged, as a Polioptila 

 cmrulea. As it was, I could hardly believe my involuntary assumption 

 that he was of this species, and at once had recourse to my gun. I have 

 never quite convinced myself how it was that my usually trusty weapon 

 so utterly annihilated the little stranger. A few pale blue feathers were 

 all that I secured of my specimen, and to this day I have been doubtful 

 whether I might not have killed an example of Parula americana. 



I have now, however, no doubt that my original identification was the 

 correct one. Not twenty minutes ago, (August 29, 1880,) in the very 

 same thicket, I stood within arm's length of an unquestionable Polioptila 

 carulea. In this case the bird first betrayed himself by his notes, — notes j 

 in themselves sufliciently characteristic to indicate their author. 



That either of these specimens were reared or had bred in this State, I 

 do not consider probable. It is more likely that they are examples of the 

 curious retrograde migration which is pretty well known to occur along 

 the Atlantic coast in autumn. And color is lent to this assumption by the 

 fact that strong southwesterly winds prevailed along that coast for sev- 

 eral days just prior to their occurrence. 



Previous numbers of the Bulletin have noted the occurrence of some 

 three or four individuals of this species in each of the three Southern 

 New England States ; but Massachusetts has hitherto been the most north- 

 ern locaUty attributed to . it. — Nathan Cliffokd Brown, Portland, 

 Maine. BuU, N.O.O, 5,Oct., 1,880. V- 23c - 2 ^7 ■ 



