SOUTHERN AMERICAN REDSTART 657 



"little torch," which in such unusual numbers brightens the dark 

 shadows of their tropical forests. In the Province of Quebec, the 

 Canadian French know it as "La Fauvette a Queue Rousse," another 

 allusion to the bright red patches in the male's tail. Like many other 

 American birds the name redstart was given it by the earlier settlers 

 who bestowed upon it the name of a familiar Old World form which 

 also has an orange-red tail but is otherwise very different in coloration 

 and belongs to another family. 



One of the most pleasant experiences I have had with warblers 

 in the Maine woods, occurred on a bright morning in May when I 

 suddenly came upon three male redstarts. One of them was working 

 along a horizontal birch limb with its wings lowered in characteristic 

 fashion and eagerly scanning every twig in its quest of insects. The 

 other two were whirling about, darting upward, floating downward 

 displaying their gorgeous colors, then snapping up their victims as 

 they dashed again and again through a haze of midges hovering 

 in the sunshine of the clearing. This scene, as it was enacted against 

 a contrasting background of rich green hemlocks and firs, always 

 comes to my mind when I think of redstarts. 



The redstart's manner of catching insects, as well as the shape of 

 its bill and the well-formed rictal bristles, suggests the flycatchers; 

 but instead of perching and patiently waiting for his prey to come 

 near, as does a true flycatcher, the redstart is continually in action, 

 dashing here and there after flying insects or perhaps snapping up 

 larva dangling in midair at the end of its long silken fiber. 



Spring. — The redstart, which spends the winter in the West Indies 

 and Central and South America, makes its first appearance in spring 

 on the Florida Peninsula and coasts of the other Gulf States during 

 the first week of April. By the middle of the month the vanguard 

 reaches North Carolina, Kentucky, and Missouri. During the last 

 week of April they progress as far as Maryland, Pennsylvania, and 

 Indiana. We may expect the first arrivals in New England, New 

 York, Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa during the first week of May. By 

 the middle of the month they reach Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba ; 

 and before the end of May they arrive at the outposts of their summer 

 range in northern British Columbia. 



After the redstarts leave their winter quarters early in April, they 

 cross the Gulf of Mexico, following no particular route, or proceed 

 from the West Indies via Florida. They thus enter the United States 

 on a wide front extending westward a distance of some 2,000 miles 

 to Texas. From this wide area of entry they spread out fanlike, as 

 do members of many other species, until they reach across the widest 

 part of the North American Continent from Newfoundland on the 

 east to British Columbia on the Pacific. The migration from the 



