8o Bird-Land Echoes. 



trasted colors of their plumage render them always 

 conspicuous, whatever their surroundings ; and yet, 

 strange to say, these birds are not generally known. 

 Tell ninety-nine out of every one hundred people that 

 it is a black canary from the cannibal islands, and 

 they will not suspect that you are hoaxing them. 

 But, on the other hand, there are a great many 

 people who do know the lively redstarts, and not one 

 of these fortunate folk but loves them. It would be 

 hard to find in all our avi-fauna, or in that of any 

 other country, a more attractive form of bird-life. 



With the general northward rush of migratory 

 birds, — thrushes, finches, flycatchers, and warblers, — 

 the redstarts appear, though not so early as many 

 others, for they must have insects, and cannot, as do 

 many, flourish on a vegetable diet for a while. Like 

 all little birds, redstarts are " feathered appetites," and 

 eating from dawn to dark seems to be the sole end of 

 their existence ; but finally other views of life crowd 

 upon them, and eating, like the intricacies of their 

 leafy surroundings, loses its novelty. The sobering 

 thought and anxieties of nesting steady them for a 

 few weeks, during which time they are less like the 

 man who remarked, **What with three meals a day, 

 lunch, and a nap in the afternoon, I've no time for 

 work." I fancy they eat less when they are building 

 a nest, for this structure, the result of joint labor, is 

 not hurriedly put together, but neatly woven of soft 

 materials, and is very durable. The storms of the 

 following autumn and winter do not always scatter 

 it to the winds. 



