Waiting for Warblers. 79 



cal structure, — and this is the only proper guide, — 

 birds are classed in a scientific or natural way that 

 admits of no dispute ; but to the popular mind many 

 a lower form of bird-life enjoys a prominence and a 

 value, so to speak, not accorded to the true higher 

 types. The redstart is a warbler, but it has always 

 seemed to me to represent the highest type, the cul- 

 mination of evolutionary effort, among birds, and that 

 no other bird, taking everything into consideration, 

 could excel it. What has surprised me more than 

 all else is that this bird is not so well known as the 

 bluebird or the robin. It is always and everywhere 

 abundant, and really stays all summer and nests 

 where it is recorded as merely a transient visitor. I 

 chanced recently to see the statement that it is sel- 

 dom found breeding in a given county in Pennsyl- 

 vania, w^hereas I know that it is abundant there sum- 

 mer after summer, and as common among the trees 

 of village streets as the red-eyed vireo. Years ago, 

 perhaps, it w^as a forest bird, but time has changed all 

 that. In the summer of 1895 there were three pairs 

 that had nests within a few yards of my house, and 

 one of them was built in a cedar directly in front of 

 a rustic seat that was very frequently occupied. All 

 the season through the birds were as tame as house- 

 wrens or chipping-sparrows, and so it has been for 

 years. There has been a deal of rubbish wTitten 

 about their haunts, shyness, and comparative rarity. 

 Redstarts, if not strictly musical, are pleasantly cheer- 

 ful, and their efforts at singing are not devoid of a 

 certain measure of success. Again, the strongly con- 



