REDSTART. 1 65 



Redstart does not appear in Pennsylvania until late in April. 

 The month of May, about the close of the first week, ushers 

 his arrival into the States of New England ; but in Louisiana 

 he is seen as early as the beginning of March. He is no pen- 

 sioner upon the bounty of man. Though sometimes seen, on 

 his first arrival, in the darkest part of the orchard or garden, 

 or by the meandering brook, he seeks to elude observation, 

 and now, the great object of his migrations having arrived, he 

 retires with his mate to the thickest of the sylvan shade. Like 

 his relative Sylvias, he is full of life and in perpetual motion. 

 He does not, like the loitering Pewee, wait the accidental ap- 

 proach of his insect prey, but carrying the war amongst them, 

 he is seen flitting from bough to bough, or at times pursuing 

 the flying troop of winged insects from the top of the tallest 

 tree in a zig-zag, hawk-like, descending flight, to the ground, 

 while the clicking of the bill declares distinctly both his object 

 and success. Then alighting on some adjoining branch, in- 

 tently watching with his head extended, he runs along upon it 

 for an instant or two, flirting like a fan his expanded, brilliant 

 tail from side to side, and again suddenly shoots off" like an 

 arrow in a new direction, after the fresh game he has discov- 

 ered in the distance, and for which he appeared to be recon- 

 noitring. At first the males are seen engaged in active strife, 

 pursuing each other in wide circles through the forest. The 

 female seeks out her prey with less action and flirting, and in 

 her manners resembles the ordinary Sylvias. 



The notes of the male, though not possessed of great com- 

 pass, are highly musical, and at times sweet and agreeably 

 varied like those of the Warblers. Many of these tones, as they 

 are mere trills of harmony, cannot be recalled by any words. 

 Their song on their first arrival is however nearly uniform, and 

 greatly resembles the 'tsh Ush tsh tshee, fshe, tshe, tshe tshea, or 'tsh 

 'tsh 'tsh 'tshitshee of the summer Yellow Bird {Sylvia cBstiva), 

 uttered in a piercing and rather slender tone ; now and then 

 also agreeably varied with a somewhat plaintive flowing ^tshe 

 tshe tshe, or a more agreeable 'tshit 'tshit a 'tshee, given almost 

 in the tones of the common Yellow Bird {Fringilla tristis) . I 



