182 
General Notes. 
days, when the bird wholly disappeared, being caught, it is feared, by a 
neighbor’s cat which had been observed lying in wait for it at the window 
on various occasions. — J. A. A. 
The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Sanderling in Minne- 
sota. — May 19, 1877, I shot here a male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ( Poll - 
optila ccerulea). This is, apparently, the most northern point at which 
it has yet been taken. Also, last fall (September 30), I shot the Sander- 
ling ( Calidris arenoria ), its second capture in Minnesota. — Robert S. 
Williams, Minneapolis , Minn. 
Nest and Eggs of the Gray Titmouse ( Lophoplmnes inorna- 
tus). — The following notes respecting the nesting habits of the Western 
Crested Titmouse, furnished by my friend W. E. Bryant, a promising 
young collector of Oakland, California, together with a description of its 
eggs, will prove of interest. * As is the case wherever found, the bird is 
a resident of its locality, and, being already on the ground, housekeeping 
with it begins early in the season, the first eggs being deposited about 
the middle of March. Fresh eggs may, hoivever, be found up to the 
middle of May, from which it would appear that two broods are raised 
in a season. Their nesting sites are the hollows of limbs, usually in the 
oaks ; but they appear to be somewhat less particular than others of the 
family, since my informant speaks of one nest as having been placed in 
the ventilator of an out-building. Perhaps in this respect their habits cor- 
respond more closely with those of the Wrens, and, given a cavity of almost 
any sort, their wants are supplied. As the only two requisites for the 
nest proper are an abundance of material to fill up all useless space, and 
of a sufficiently soft texture, almost any pliable substance becomes avail- 
able. Hence feathers, fine grasses, cow’s hair, rabbit’s fur, moss, or even, 
as in one instance, a grain-sack picked into fine pieces, in turn enter into 
its composition, as they chance to be at hand. As to shape, the nest can 
scarcely be said to have any, since the character of the cavity wholly 
determines that. 
The eggs number from five to eight. These, curiously enough, may be 
pure white, as is so rarely the case in this family, or spotted. I infer 
from my correspondent’s letter that the sets are either of one or the other 
style ; that is, that all of a complement are alike. To this, however, there 
may be exceptions. Nearly all the sets found have been pure white, and 
the spotted eggs appear to be quite rare ; the latter appear also never to 
be as profusely marked as are those of the Eastern L. bicolor , or, judging 
* The only other notices of the eggs and breeding habits of this species 
appear to be the following: — 1. Description of a single nest and set of eggs 
by W. A. Cooper (this Bulletin, Yol, III, p. 69, April, 1878) ; — 2. A brief 
reference to another nest and set of eggs by L. Belding (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 
Vol. I, p. 400, April, 1879). The eggs of the first set are described as white, 
thickly marked all over with small irregular spots of red. 
