1 68 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



trunk lo snap up an insect which it; 

 have delected. Thes, ''.''•-•n- like 



sharp eyes 

 saHies may 



I by H. K. Job 



FEMALE REDSTART ON HER NEST 



account for its pretty habit of keeping its tail 

 s])read and its wings half ojjen and vibrating 

 slightly even as it dances along a limb. 



"Anyone familiar with the woods in sum- 

 mer," says Mr. Parkhurst, " will recognize in 

 this the fiery little Redstart — a name corrupted 

 from ' redstert,' meaning red tail, this portion of 

 the plumage being doubly noticeable from the 

 amount of reddish-yellow upon it, and from the 

 bird's habit of keeping it partly spread as it 

 moves from limb to limb. The wings and sides 

 of the breast also have a dash of flame color, 

 intensified by the otherwise lustrous black of the 

 male, whereas the female — well, she looks as 

 anyone would be supposed to look, arrayed in 

 goods warranted not to wash. If the male Red- 

 start is a fiery coal, the female is a trail of ashes 

 in his wake." {The Birds' Calendar.) 



Unlike the Blackburnian Warbler, his rival in 

 color, whose happy hunting ground is the tree- 

 tops where he is hard to find and harder to fol- 

 low, the Redstart shows a decided partiality for 

 shrubbery and low-hanging foliage near dwell- 

 ings, wherefore he is much the more frequently 

 and plainly seen of the two. Indeed, either his 

 confidence or his concentration on his work 

 often causes him to dart down and snatch an 

 insect from the ground at the very feet of the 

 astonished and delighted observer. 



Like the vocal efforts of most of the Warblers, 

 the song of the Redstart is a lisping and rather 

 unmusical effort, composed generally of the rapid 

 reiteration of syllables like zuee and see or see. 

 In fact, the bird seems to be altogether too busy 

 to sing a real song. 



PAINTED REDSTART 



Setophaga picta Sicainson 



A. n. U. Number 688 



General Description. — Length, 514 inches. Fore 

 and upper part>. black ; under parts, red : patches of 

 white. Bill, about 'j length of head, much depressed, 

 its profile wedge-shaped ; wings, rather long and 

 pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, decidedly rounded, 

 the feathers broad and rounded. 



Color. — Adults (sexes alike) : Head, neck, upper 

 chest, sides, back, shoulders, lesser wing-coverts, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, uniform deep black, with a 

 faint bluish gloss ; wings and tail, black, the former 

 relieved by a large white patch involving the middle 

 and greater coverts and edges of innermost secondaries, 

 the latter with three outermost feathers extensively 

 white terminally, this white occupying much the greater 

 part of the outermost feather; lower chest, breast, and 

 abdomen, rich vermilion or poppy-red, rarely more 



orange-red ; under tail-coverts, black or blackish 

 liroadly tipped with white ; under wing-coverts, mostly 

 white ; bill, legs, and feet, black ; iris, brown. Young, 

 FIRST plumage: Above, plain sooty-black; the wings 

 and tail as in adults, but the white wing-patch tinged 

 with buff; beneath, sooty-grayish passing into dull 

 whitish on center of abdomen ; the breast spotted or 

 broadly streaked with sooty-blackish. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In cavities under banks or 

 beneath projecting stones; loosely constructed of grasses 

 and vegetable bark and lined with horse-hair. Eggs: 

 4, pearly-white, thickly dotted with chestnut and 

 lavender. 



Distribution. — Higher mountains of central and 

 southern Arizona, and New Mexico, and southward 

 over higher districts of Mexico. 



