052 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



number of nests must be deserted each year on this account. This fact 

 alone is probably sufficient to account for the large number of nests found 

 late in June and early in July. 



The eggs are three to five, but most often four, white, greenish-white 

 or grayish-white, speckled with brown and lilac, and average .63 by 48 

 inches. There is much variation in the ground color and the size of the 

 spots, so that in a dozen sets of eggs no two may resemble each other 

 closely. 



This is one of the most restless and active of our warblers, seldom quiet 

 for a moment, but always flitting about, snapping at insects on the wing, 

 opening and closing the tail, spreading the wings and generally making 

 itself conspicuous. 



According to Audubon: "Its pleasing notes resemble the sounds 

 ' teetee-whee, teetee-whee,' with sometimes a different note equally clear 

 which may be expressed by the syllables 

 ' wizz-wizz-wizz.' " Chapman writes the 

 song "clung, clung, chee; ser-wee-swee, 

 swee-e-e." Like the song of most other 

 warblers the Redstart's is perfectly 

 characteristic, but unless one has an 

 unusual ear he will often mistake it for 



the song of some other warbler, at least ^ ■-s>^tr'" 



at the beginning of each season, before * ^" ^ ^**''" -^'^- 



he has refreshed his memory with new 

 songs. 



The food of the Redstart resembles . .^--^ 



that of the other warblers of this group, -^ . \ ^"^ 



consisting mainly of insects, with only 



an occasional berry or seed. That it is Fig. 143. Re^dstart. From Baird Brewer & 

 ,1 , r- • 1 ^ £ Ridgway's North American Birds. Little, 



emmently benenciai cannot lor a Brown & Co. 



moment be doubted by any one who 



has watched the bird for any length of time in an orchard or grove. The 



number of insects taken is simply astonishing, and since the bird is one 



of our very common species its work in behalf of the fruit grower is of the 



utmost importance. 



The Redstart is by no means confined to any one kind of woodland, 

 but seems to be more common among deciduous growths than among 

 evergreens, although by no means rare in mixed woods with a heavy 

 sprinkling of spruce and pine. It more often nests, however, in somewhat 

 heavy woods, where oaks, poplars, maples and similar trees are scattered 

 here and there, with an abundance of horn-beam, flowering dogwood and 

 other small trees. It neither seeks nor avoids swampy ground, but is 

 rarely found in mere thickets in open country, or on the bushy islands in 

 marshes, at least during the nesting season. During migration the bird 

 may be found almost anywhere. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Head and neck all around, upper breast, and entire upper parts, deep 

 black; breast and sides orange red, the rest of the under parts white, more or less streaked 

 with black; basal half of most of the wing and tail-feathers orange, remainder black; 

 bill and feet black. Female entirely different; the black of the male replaced above by 

 grayish-olive, and below by white; the red of the male replaced by yellow, usually pale. 

 Young males resemble the females, but are variously intermediate, the yellow often tinged 

 with orange; probably they do not acquire the full i)lumage until the second or tiiird year 



Length 4.75 to 5.75 inches; wing 2.40 to 2.55; tail 2.30 to 2.45. 



