LAND BIRDS. 651 



298. Redstart. Setophaga ruticilla (Linn.). (687) 

 Synonyms: American Redstart, Redstart Warbler, Redstart Flycatcher, Fire-tail. — • 

 Motacilla ruticilla, Linn., 1758. — Muscicapa ruticilla, Bodd., 1783. — Septohaga ruticilla 

 of most authors. 



Figures U2, US. 



The male in full plumage is unmistakable, the l)ack, head, neck and upper 

 breast being glossy blue-black, and the sides of the breast, a large patch 

 in each wing, and the basal half of the tail, brilliant orange-red or flame 

 color, while the lower breast and belly are white. The female is entirely 

 different, the black being replaced by grayish-olive above and by white 

 below, and the flame color replaced by lemon-yellow. 



Distribution. — North America, north to Ft. Simpson, west regularly 

 to the Great Basin, breeding from the middle portions of the United States 

 northward. In winter, the West Indies, southern Mexico, Central America 

 and northern South America. 



This handsome httle warbler is an abundant migrant throughout the 

 state and occurs also as a summer resident in suitable places everywhere. 

 Possibly it nests rather more freely in the central and southern 

 parts of the state than at the north, yet Mr. S. E. White 

 states that it occurred in amazing numbers on Mackinac 

 Island during summer, and the writer found it in large 

 numbers on Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, as well as every- 

 where along the south shore of Lake Superior from Marquette pj^, ^^r, ovcn- 

 to the Sault. In many parts of the state it exceeds the ^"5'^/'',^; ^^''''" 

 Yellow Warbler in numbers, and perhaps has equal claim to ^^'^'^^ "^ 

 be considered on the whole the most abundant species of warbler 

 throughout the state. 



It arrives from the south rather early, ]\Ir. Trombley recording it as 

 early as April 23 and April 24 in different seasons, although ordinarily 

 it does not reach Monroe county until about the first of May. At Ann 

 Arbor Mr. Wood gives the earliest arrival in twenty-five years as April 

 5, 1903, the average being May 6. Among more than a score of specimens 

 from Michigan lighthouses the majority of spring recoi'ds fall between 

 May 11 and ^lay 28, with a single record at Spectacle Reef Light, Lake 

 Huron, June 2, 1891. One was killed on Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, 

 May 19, 1887 and another June 6, 1894. The autumn records at Spectacle 

 Reef Light range from September 16 to October 3, but the southward 

 migration cei'tainly begins long l^cfore the middle of September, often 

 in August. 



Nesting begins in the southern counties from the midtlle to the end of 

 May, and nests with eggs appear to be most aLundant during the first 

 week in June, yet many eggs ai-e found late in June and occasionally even 

 early in July, though the evidence of two broods is not complete. 



The nests vary much in location, but are very rarely more than twenty 

 feet from the ground, the great majority not even ten feet up. They are 

 built of grasses, strips of bark, and various hemp-like threads, thoroughly 

 interwoven, often held together by spidei's' webs and caterpillars' silk, 

 and commonly lined with fine grass and sometimes a few horse hairs. 

 The nest is seldom bulky, but is usually compact and well nuide, dee|)ly 

 hollowed and quite durable. It is sometimes found in the fork of a 

 horizontal l)ranch, but usually in the upright crotch of a small tree or 

 large bush, where it is firndy seated but seldom well concealed. As a 

 result the bird is very fi-ecpicntly victimized by the Cowbird, and an immense 



