Blue and Bluish 
deserted, as she frequently does. It is almost excusable to take 
her young birds and rear them in captivity, where they invariably 
thrive, mate, and live happily, unless death comes to one, when 
the other often refuses food and grieves its life away. 
In the wild state, when the nesting season approaches, both 
birds make curious acrobatic flights above the tree-tops; then, 
after a short sail in midair, they return to their perch. This 
appears to be their only giddiness and frivolity, unless a dust- 
bath in the country road might be considered a dissipation. 
In the autumn a few pairs of doves show slight gregarious 
tendencies, feeding amiably together in the grain fields and retir- 
ing to the same roost at sundown. 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
(Polioptila ccerulea ) Gnatcatcher family 
Called also • SYLVAN FLYCATCHER 
Length — 4.5 inches. About two inches smaller than the English 
sparrow. 
Male — Grayish blue above, dull grayish white below. Grayish 
tips on wings. Tail with white outer quills changing gradu- 
ally through black and white to all black on centre quills. 
Narrow black band over the forehead and eyes. Resembles 
in manner and form a miniature catbird. 
Female — More grayish and less blue, and without the black on 
head. 
Range — United States to Canadian border on the north, the Rockies 
on the west, and the Atlantic States, from Maine to Florida ; 
most common in the Middle States. A rare bird north of 
New Jersey. Winters in Mexico and beyond. 
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident. 
In thick woodlands, where a stream that lazily creeps through 
the mossy, oozy ground attracts myriads of insects to its humid 
neighborhood, this tiny hunter loves to hide in the denser foliage 
of the upper branches. He has the habit of nervously flitting 
about from twig to twig of his relatives, the kinglets, but unhap- 
pily he lacks their social, friendly instincts, and therefore is rarely 
seen. Formerly classed among the warblers, then among the fly- 
catchers, while still as much a lover of flies, gnats, and mosquitoes 
as ever, his vocal powers have now won for him recognition 
no 
