NORTHERN PAINTED REDSTART 687 



another species of rather similar habits. After this date, the painted 

 redstarts became more numerous on the Sierra de Tecpan; and not 

 infrequently I saw one of each of these two species in a mixed flock 

 of small birds. The painted redstart appeared to be just as intolerant 

 of its own kind at that season as the Kaup's redstart; but the two 

 species got along very well together. 



"On the same morning when I met my first painted redstart, I 

 found a second bird in perfect plumage who was singing. His loud, 

 ringing weedier weecher weecher was wonderfully rich and mellow, 

 surpassing in fullness of tone even the chWee ch/ree ch'ree of Kaup's 

 redstart. 



"These two lovely redstarts are found separately more often than 

 together. The painted redstart, which ranges much farther to the 

 north, prefers dry, open woodlands of pine and oak, and is very much 

 at home in some of the dry interior valleys in the highlands of Guate- 

 mala, where one will look in vain for Kaup's redstart. The latter 

 lives in heavier and more humid forests where the other rarely ven- 

 tures; but in intermediate types of woodland the two species may 

 meet. In the latter part of the rainy season, the painted redstarts 

 seemed to wander about a good deal; and I frequently saw them on 

 parts of the Sierra de Tecpan where I am sure they had not been 

 during the breeding season. All did not forage so exclusively upon 

 the bark as the first which I met ; but usually they devoted considerable 

 attention to this source of food. At times they wove among the 

 branches and darted out into the air with a sprightliness almost equal 

 to that of Kaup's redstart, or the American redstart. Like their rela- 

 tives, they often kept their tail spread as they hunted, revealing its 

 contrasting areas of black and white, and adding greatly to their 

 appearance. 



"Later in the year, after the American redstarts came down from 

 the north, I once encountered a single member of each of the three 

 species foraging together in a little grove on the plateau near Tecpan. 

 The American redstart was a male in perfect plumage. Since the 

 sexes of the other two species are alike, it was impossible to decide 

 whether they were male or female ; but each was an excellent represent-, 

 ative of its own kind. It was indeed difficult to judge which of the 

 three was the most beautiful ; but the painted redstart, with its deep, 

 contrasting colors, most took my eye." 



C. Russell Mason contributes the following remarkable record of 

 the winter wandering of the far-western species : 



"On October 18, 1947, while casually birding at Marblehead Neck, 

 Mass., Mrs. Heyliger deWindt, of Boston, and Mrs. David H. Searle, 

 of Marblehead, were attracted to a small bird, strikingly marked in 

 black, white, and bright red, that was actively feeding in a tree above 



