670 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



shrubbery, as well as many beetles, moths, and flies. A very small percentage 

 of its food is taken from benelicial species of insects, the remainder being en- 

 tirely injurious. This bird is entirely insectivorous and does not feed upon any 

 of the abundant wild berries, a fact which increases its importance, as it destroys 

 proportionately more insects than do the more or less vegetarian resident species 

 of similar habit. 



Small larvae and tiny insects are fed to the young by the adults dur- 

 ing the first days of nest life but as the young become older and their 

 demands for food correspondingly greater they are fed larger insects 

 such as adult moths, beetles, locusts, and craneflies. Bernard W. Baker 

 (1944) in observations made of nesting redstarts in northern Michigan 

 writes : "Various kinds of insects and larvae were fed to the young — 

 Mayfly {Ephemera) , Eosy Maple Moth larvae {Dryocampa ruhicnda) , 

 House Fly {Musca domestica) ^ and many others I could not identify. 

 During a Mayfly hatch 90 per cent of the insects brought to the nests 

 were Mayflies. It was not unusual for the male to bring in two or 

 three Mayflies and feed two young on one trip. On one occasion a 

 male brought four Mayflies at once and fed three young." 



The young are usually fed from 4 to 15 times during the course of 

 an hour. At one nest under observation the young were fed by the 

 female 28 times and by the male 22 times during the course of 9 hours. 

 The feeding intervals varied from 1 to 25 minutes, with an average of 

 about 10 to 11 minutes between feedings. Ira N. Gabrielson (1922) 

 who observed a nest of young at Marshalltown, Iowa, states that dur- 

 ing the course of 5i^ hours the nestlings had 30 feedings, 10 of which 

 were by the female and 20 by the male. During these feedings he 

 recognized 22 winged insects, 16 larvae, 1 fly, and 1 spider, but in some 

 cases he was unable to determine the character of the food. 



It is obvious that the redstart can be classed as a bird very useful to 

 man's interests because of its destruction of many harmful insects. 



Voice. — The song of the redstart is not especially pleasing nor is 

 there any outstanding feature of the song except its extreme varia- 

 tion and the different versions in which it occurs. It is a short mo- 

 notonous weechy type and of a high-pitched sibilant quality. I have 

 often been mystified by the vagaries of this versatile singer. The 

 beginner may at first confuse the song with that of the yellow warbler, 

 which it resembles, but the latter is longer and has a different ending. 

 The fundamental difference between the two is a tendency of the song 

 of the yellow warbler to accelerate while that of the redstart retards. 

 Sometimes the redstart will emit a series of notes that are weak and 

 huzzy and suggest the parula's song, and again they will be like the 

 shrill notes of the blackpoll or the loud wheeze of the black-throated 

 blue warbler. 



Aretas A. Saunders has sent us his interpretation and analysis of 

 the redstart's songs, as follows : "The song of the redstart is not loud, 



