296 PAINTED REDSTART 



General Distribution. — Mountains from Honduras to southern 

 Arizona and New Mexico. 



Summer Range. — Mountains of Mexico north to Santa CataHna 

 Mountains, Arizona and Grant County, New Mexico. 



Winter Range. — Mexico to Honduras. 



Spring Migration. — Southern New Mexico, March 26; southern 

 Arizona, March 15. 



The Bird and its Haunts. — The Painted Redstart was added to our 

 fauna by Major (then Lieutenant) Bendire, near Tucson, Arizona, 

 April 4, 1872. Henshaw, who found it in the same territory, in 1873 

 and 1874, states that "it appears not to inhabit the high mountains nor 

 the extreme lowlands, but to occupy an intermediate position, and to 

 find the rocky hills covered with sparse growth of oak most congenial 

 to its habits. * * * 



"Their motions are almost an exact reflection of those of the com- 

 mon Redstart, which they so much resemble in form. With half shut 

 wings and outspread tail, they pass rapidly along the limbs of trees, 

 now and then making a sudden dart for a passing fly, which secured 

 they again alight and resume their search. They are constantly in 

 motion, and rarely remain in the same tree many moments. It not 

 infrequently may be seen cHnging to the trunk of a tree while it seizes 

 a grub or minute insect which its sharp eyes have detected hidden in 

 the bark." 



Brewster- writes that Stephens found this species at an elevation 

 of fully 7,000 feet in the Chiricahua Mountains where it occurred most 

 numerously among the pines ; an experience differing from that of 

 Henshaw, as recorded above. 



Howard^ found this Warbler breeding in the Santa Catalinas at 

 between 5,000 and 8,000 feet elevation. "With their wings partly 

 open and tail spread they may be seen hopping about on mossy banks 

 or stumps of large trees, generally in the vicinity of a spring or water- 

 fall ; now and then they will fly up to catch some insect, much after 

 the manner of the Flycatcher." 



Nesting Site. — The nest of this species appears to have been first 

 discovered by Herbert Brown in June 1880, in the Santa Rita Moun- 

 tains of Arizona. (Bryant^) The following year it was found in 

 the same region by Stephens^, and later the bird was studied by 

 Howard^ and Breninger*. From the researches of these naturalists we 

 learn that, wholly unlike its eastern relative (Setophaga ruticilla), the 

 Painted Redstart places its nest on the ground, preferably on a bank 



