Family Mniotiltidce American Redstart 65 



FAMILY MNIOTILTID^ 

 19. AMERICAN REDSTART (Setophaga ruticilla.} 



Male: upper parts, throat, and middle of breast black; wings 

 dark, with irregular bar of reddish orange; tail with two 

 blotches of reddish orange near base ; under surface of wings 

 and sides of body of the same color ; belly white. Beak rather 

 long and slender, black ; feet dark. Bird about two-thirds as 

 large as a sparrow. Female : upper parts olive ; lower parts 

 grayish white ; wings dusky, with yellow bar ; tail with yellow 

 blotches near base ; under surface of wings and sides of body 

 yellow. 



THIS exquisite gem of the woodlands is to be 

 found especially on the wooded borders of swamps 

 and meadows, being attracted there by the flying 

 insects which constitute its food. Its habit of 

 constantly opening and closing its tail as it flies, 

 renders it even more conspicuous than it would 

 otherwise be. In Wellesley it is by no means a 

 timid or an uncommon bird ; it arrives in early 

 May, and leaves again in late September. 



The nest is placed in a fork of a shrub or small 

 tree. The eggs are laid about the first week in June. 



It has the twittering notes and the incessant 

 motion characteristic of the warblers, but I have 

 been unable to mark any distinctive peculiarity in 

 either flight or note. It is sometimes silent in 



