not less than five in a single day, and very rarely were any of them less than sixty feet from the ground. Dr. Gerhardt, who was an accurate and careful observer, speaks of these as the best built nests he had met with in this country, both in regard to strength and its ingeniously contrived aperture, so narrowed at the top that it is impossible for the eggs to roll out even in the severest wind. They have two broods in the season in the Southern States, one in April and again in July.
This Flycatcher lays usually five eggs. These are of a short oval form, somewhat pointed at one end and rounded at the other, and measure .56 of an inch in length by .44 in breadth. Their ground-color is a greenish-white, marked and dotted with small blotches and spots of varying and blending shades of reddish-brown, lilac, and slate.
Polioptila plumbea, Baird.
LEAD-COLORED GNATCATCHER; ARIZONA GNATCATCHER.
Polioptila plumbea, Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. VII, June, 1854, 118.—Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 382, pl. xxxiii, fig. 1; Review, 74.—Cooper, Birds Cal. 1, 37.
Sp. Char. Above bluish-gray; the forehead uniform with the crown. Eyelids white. A pale grayish-white line over the eye, above which is another of black, much concealed by the feathers, and which does not reach to the bill. Lower parts dull white, tinged with bluish on the sides and with brownish behind. Tail-feathers black; the first and second edged and tipped with white, involving the entire outer web of the first, and most of that of the second; the third with only a very faint edging of the same. Female duller, without the black superciliary line. Length, 4.40; wing, 1.80; tail, 2.30 (7,189).
Hab. Arizona.
This species differs from P. cærulea, in having the ash above less bluish, especially on the forehead; the black superciliary streak is only a horizontal bar, not reaching the bill, whereas in cærulea it not only reaches the bill, but also extends across the forehead; the light superciliary stripe is more distinct. The tail is entirely different, the lateral feathers being almost entirely black, instead of the reverse.
From immature specimens of P. melanura it may be distinguished by larger size and purer white lower parts, and greater amount of white on outer webs of lateral tail-feathers.
Habits. But little is known in regard to the distribution or history of this species. It appears to be peculiar to Arizona and Mexico. There is no good reason to suppose that it differs materially in any of its habits from the other species of this genus. Dr. Cooper, who observed this species at Fort Mojave, states that it is a winter resident of that region in small numbers; and, so far as he observed, is undistinguishable either in habit or general appearance from either of the other species which at that season are also found there. Its cry of alarm resembles that of the common wren.