BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



the head being nearly plain gray; the throat and under parts grayish white; 

 yellowish patches on the sides of breast and sides of tail are conspicuous; 

 the yellow patch in the wing is not as extensive as the male's orange patch. 

 Young resemble the female, young males in the spring passing gradually 

 into the plumage of the adult. Specimens midway between the colors of 

 the male and female are frequently seen showing more or less black feath- 

 ers on the breast and gradually changing into the black plumage of the male 

 on the back. 



Length 5.42 inches; extent 7.9; wing 2.57; tail 2.27; bill .35; tarsus .66. 



Distribution. Breeds from central British Columbia, central Mac- 

 kenzie, southern Keewatin, northern Quebec and Newfoundland to Wash- 

 ington, Colorado, Arkansas and North Carolina; winters in the West Indies 

 and from central Mexico to Ecuador and Guiana. It is a common summer 

 resident of New York, breeding in all portions of the State. I have found 

 its nest in Central Park, New York City, and in all the deciduous wood- 

 lands examined in eastern, central and western New York, and in the slash- 

 ings of the Mclntyre Iron Company on the slopes of Skylight and Mt 

 Marcy in the Adirondacks. The Redstart is probably as universally 

 distributed as the Ovenbird and the Yellow warbler but is not becoming 

 accustomed to civilized conditions so rapidly as the latter, though adapting 

 itself, perhaps, more easily than the Ovenbird. The spring migration 

 begins between the 27th of April and the 7th of May,* depending upon 

 the advance of the season, average date near New York being about May i ; 

 in western New York, May 2 or 3. In the fall the last migrants depart 

 between the 23d of September and the 4th of October. 



Haunts and habits. The Redstart prefers a deciduous woodland 

 with plentiful undergrowth of saplings and low trees. I have found it 

 nesting in low, damp woods as well as in dry, well-drained upland woods; 

 also in mixed woodland with a considerable growth of pine or hemlock, 

 and in the Adirondacks where spruces occupy half the ground. This 

 flaming little warbler is one of the liveliest of the family, continually 

 fluttering about among the foliage and darting after flying insects, being 

 almost as expert a flycatcher as the Wood pewee; in fact, the shape of its 

 bill and the bristling of the rictus have often beguiled ornithologists into 



