one THE AMERICAN REDSTART. 
Nor is there any lack of interest in the life of this golden midget. Have 
you never wished that you were tiny—oh, teeny—with beady black eyes, that 
you might explore the mysteries of a moss forest? that elderberries might look 
to you like great blue pippins? and madrone berries like luscious fiery pump- 
kins? that you might pluck a thousand sapid meats at first hand where now 
you know only a few “staples,” disguised by the meretricious arts of cookery ? 
That you might—Ah, here I have you!—that you might pantingly pursue a 
golden maiden down dim forest aisles, over plunging billows of spiraea blos- 
soms, past corridors of giant sword-fern, into—Oh, where is that maddening 
creature! She’s given me the slip again! Never mind; I'll pause and sing: 
00000€ ¢'e'e'e'e'e'e' 00000. 
Truth to tell, the song just recorded is one of the rarest, a perfectly 
modulated swell of sharp staccato notes of little resonance but greater power 
and intensity. The ordinary song is a series of monosyllables uttered with 
increasing emphasis, chip chip cure cu1p CHIP CHIP. ‘The singer is very 
much in earnest, and compels attention in spite of his utter lack of musical 
ability. Late in August, the 26th it was, I provoked a Black-cap at Blaine by 
screeping, until he sang merely to relieve his feelings, chip cure CHIP cuip 
chip chip chip, the precise type of the Pileolated Warbler, IV’. p. pileolata 
proper. The only other variant in my collection is fsew tsew tsew tsee tsee 
tsee, whhhackity,—the last note, somewhat whimsically represented here, be- 
ing an intense guttural trill very difficult to characterize. 
Messrs. Rathbun and Renick, of Seattle, have made a special study of 
the nesting habits of this dainty wood nymph, and they report a marked par- 
tiality in its nesting for the vicinity of woodland paths, log-roads, and the 
smaller openings in the logged-off sections. The favorite host is a cedar sap- 
ling, a mere baby tree with stem only half an inch or so in diameter. Of nine 
nests examined only one, in a bracken, was more than two feet above the 
ground, and none were less than ten inches. The nest is quite a bulky affair, 
yet compact centrally, composed externally of copious dried leaves and twigs; 
internally of fine grasses and interwoven rootlets. The birds quit the nest 
unobserved and the finding of one of their domiciles is a matter of hard work. 
No. 86. 
AMERICAN REDSTART. 
v 
A. O. U. No. 687. Setophaga ruticilla (Linn.). 
Description.—Adult male: Head and neck all around and breast shining 
black; remaining upperparts dull black with glossy patches, changing to brownish 
black or fuscous on wings; a large salmon-colored patch at base of secondaries; a 
smaller, nearly concealed patch of same color at base of primaries; the outer 
