AMERICAN REDSTART. 293 



an arrow in a new direction, after the fresh game he has 

 discovered in the distance, and for which he appeared to 

 be reconnoitring. At first the males are seen engag- 

 ed in active strife, pursuing each other in wide circles 

 through the forest. The female seeks out her prey with 

 less action and flirting, and in her manners resembles the 

 ordinary Sylvias. 



The notes of the male, though not possessed of great 

 compass, are highly musical, and at times sweet and 

 agreeably varied like that of the Warblers. Many of 

 these tones, as they are mere trills of harmony, cannot be 

 recalled by any words. Their song on their first arrival is 

 however nearly uniform, and greatly resembles the ^tsh 

 Hsh tsh tshee, tsM, tshe, tshe tsJiea, or 'tsh 'tsh Hsh 'tshiishee 

 of the summer Yellow-bird (Sylvia cBstiva), uttered in a 

 piercing and rather slender tone ; now and then also 

 agreeably varied with a somewhat plaintive flowing 'tshe 

 tshi tshe, or a more agreeable 'tshit 'tshit a 'tshee, given al- 

 most in the tones of the Common Yellow-bird ( Fringilla 

 tristis). I have likewise heard individuals warble out a 

 variety of sweet, and tender, trilling, rather loud and 

 shrill notes, so superior to the ordinary lay of incubation, 

 that the performer would scarcely be supposed the same 

 bird. On some occasions the male also, when angry or 

 alarmed, utters a loud and snapping chirp. 



The nest of this elegant Sylvan Flycatcher is very 

 neat and substantial ; fixed occasionally near the forks of a 

 slender hickory or beach sappling, but more generally 

 fastened or agglutinated to the depending branches or 

 twigs of the former ; sometimes securely seated amidst 

 the stout footstalks of the waving foliage * in the more 

 usual manner of the delicate cradle of the Indian Tailor- 



* See the vignette at the close of this article, which represents one of the nests 

 here described. 



25* 



