70 



AMERICAN REDSTART. 



The Chat is a common summer resident and may 

 be found in thickets on the edges of woods and in 

 wild bushy fields, preferably near water. He is gen- 

 erally heard in the Zoo, often near the Chevy Chase 

 entrance. The nest is bulky, of grasses, leaves and 

 wild grape vine, and is usually in the crotch of a bush 

 near the ground. The eggs, 4 to 5, are white, 

 marked with reddish-brown. 



American Redstart: SctopJiaga ruticilla. 



Length about 5^2 inches; tail long. 



Male, upper parts, throat, and breast shining black. 



Sides of the breast brilliant reddish-orange; belly white. 



Wings and tail with orange band and wings lined with 

 orange. 



Female, very different; greenish-gray where the male is 

 black, and yellow where he is red. 



Uncommon in summer; winters in the tropics. 



This little beauty is rarely seen here in mid-sum- 

 mer, but during the spring migration, from April 

 eighteenth to the middle of May he is abundant, and 

 is scarcely less so from the middle of August to the 

 last of September. He will be found in trees in 

 woodland, and is so active that it is hard to get him 

 within the focus of your glass; but you can be sure 

 of him w^ithout it, from his habit of constantly open- 

 ing and shutting his tail like a fan as he flits zig-zag 

 over the branches, searching for ants and spiders. 



In Cuba he bears the pretty name of " Candelita," 

 meaning little torch, so glowing is the flame-color on 

 his coat. His song resembles the whistle in a rubber 

 toy, although that comparison does not do it justice, 

 for it is not unmusical. 



Redstarts build a compact little nest in the crotch 

 of a tree, ten to twenty feet up. The eggs, 4 to 5, 

 are spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with reddish- 

 brown. 



