FOOD OF THE REDSTART 343 



opposite the extremity of a buuch of leaves, and darting into 

 the midst of them after the insects there concealed." Gentry 

 likens the song of the Redstart to that of the Black-and-white 

 Creeper, less prolonged and in a sharper key, and expresses it 

 by the syllables tsi-tsi-tstwe, the last ending very abruptly. 



The writer last mentioned seems to be the only one who has 

 examined the menu of the Eedstart in detail. He states that 

 he has found the bird feeding at times on fallow ground, and 

 in small bushes as well as among the branches of trees. This 

 novel fact of somewhat terrestrial proclivities on the part of 

 the Eedstart is also attested by a recent writer, Mr. H. D. Minot, 

 who observes that the female obtains much of the food for her 

 young from the ground. Mr. Gentry alludes to the immense 

 numbers of beetles destroyed at first, and to subsequent change 

 Of the bill of fare to various other orders of insects, following 

 with the results of his actual examination of the contents of 

 the stomach.* Audubon speaks of its inability to capture 

 wasps, and has drawn his beautiful plate to represent the in- 

 effectual attempts of a Redstart to seize a wasp which defied 

 the bird by protruding its sting. 



Belonging as it does to a semi-tropical group of Warblers, 

 the Redstart would be supposed neither to linger with us during 

 the winter, nor to be among the earlier spring arrivals of the 

 country at large. I have no information of the bird as an in- 

 habitant of any part of the United States in winter ; on the 

 contrary, at that season it is present in tropical America as far 



* "We have detected the remains o£ EhyiichcBiius pini, Bostrichm pini, Cra- 

 tonychus cinereus, C. pertinax, Platynus cupripennis, Harpalus compar, Donacia 

 covfiuenta, Chrysomela ccBruleipemiiti, among coleoptera; Formica sanguinea, 

 F. subterranea, Apis mellifioa, Sdandria rosce, S. viti, Megachile centuncalaria, 

 several Helicti and AndrencB, among hyraeuoptera ; Musca domestica, Syrphus 

 obscuriis, Cidex fceniorhynchus, Stomoxys calcitrans, Tabamis lineola, Tipula fer- 

 ruginea, among diptera ; Aphis rosw, A. mali, and otlier Aphidoe, the small 

 spiders that infest the bark, leaves, and flowers of plants ; Tegenaria domes- 

 tica, Epeira diadenia, and mature forms of the lepidoptera Harnsina Ameri- 

 cana, Lithosia miniata, Spilosoma Virginica, Penthina pomonella, Orgya Jeuco- 

 stigma, many of the Noctuida;, Tortricidw, Lycwnidw, and Tineidw, with the 

 larvai of Anisopteryx vcniata, Eufitchia ribearia, Pieris rapce, Colias philodice, 

 Pieria brassicw, Utetheisa bella, Eudryas grata, Catocolce, cutworms of the genus 

 Agrotis, and others,"— yet no hint of indigestion ! We must admit that the 

 Redstart is not only a good hunter, but a voracious and indiscriminate 

 feeder, lilie some other beauties we may know of. Dr. Brewer attests another 

 curious parallel between this bird and other reigning bcUes: — "Even when 

 lamenting the loss of a part of her brood, and flying round with cries of 

 distress, the sight of passing insects is a temptation not to be resisted, 

 and the pareut bird will stop her lamentations to catch small flies." 



