BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 403 



I am not a little surprised at the differences in the descrip- 

 tions of the different writers as to its song. It is quite certain 

 that not only do eyes see differently, but ears hear very much 

 so. To my ear, or rather, to my imagination, Langille has 

 given the best form of words to help recall the song of this 

 bird in the following syllables: chi-reach-a-dee, reach-a-dee, 

 reach- a-dee-chi, nervously and spiritedly delivered. 



He speaks of a characteristic ventriloquism in the utterance 

 of its song by which one is often misled as to its nearness, 

 which has often attracted my attention, and used to lead me 

 away on a fool's chase to locate the singer. They raise one 

 brood, and retire from the country by the 15th of September. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Upper parts bluish-ash; a ring round the eye, with a line 

 running to the nostrils, and the whole under parts (except the 

 tail coverts which are white) bright yellow; centres of the 

 feathers in the anterior half of the crown, the checks, con- 

 tinuous with a line on the side of the neck to the breast, and a 

 series of spots across the fore part of the breast, black; tail 

 feathers unspotted. 



Length, 5.35; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.50. 



Habitat, eastern United States westward to the Plains. 



SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA (L.). (687.) 

 AMERICAN REDSTART. 



A bird of the trees and bushes to such an emphatic degree, 

 that persons of considerable observation have failed to see 

 them altogether for several years in succession. Their habits 

 are eminently calculated to keep them from the eye of the 

 casual observer, for when pursuing their insect food on the 

 wing, he is confident he has caught a glimpse of a flycatcher, 

 and when searching the bark of the trunks and branches of 

 the trees for eggs and larvae, he calls it a warbler. Much of 

 its time is spent upon the ground, amongst decayed logs and 

 brush, in search of forms of insect life abounding in those 

 localities, where it is a difficult matter to see them. 



However, the strongly contrasted colors of the male, and 

 its dashing enthusiasm during the mating time, singing vigor- 

 ously, and changing its perch from tree to tree in the woods, 

 leads to its identity by those familiar with its habits and song. 



Rev. J. H. Langille describes its humble song as resembling 

 the notes of a tin whistle, and says:— "There is not a little 

 variety in its whistling tones, and the theme is always well 



