THE REDSTART. 81 



It appears to be an overlooked fact that many if not 

 all the male warblers leave sometimes a week or more 

 before the females, and return in the same manner ; yet 

 how to account for this strange habit I am at a total loss. 

 It is only another among the many mysterious actions 

 of the feathered tribe- -mysterious because we cannot 

 understand them - which will, I fear, only be solved when 

 the birds of the earth regain the powers of speech which 

 in Ovid's time they were said to possess. 



The fluttering motions when in search of food which 

 more particularly mark the Flycatcher, are, however, 

 common to many if not all insect-feeding birds. Thus 

 we see the Redstart occasionally in the air catching 

 insects, by the way its chief food, or fluttering before the 

 trunks of trees or old walls, to secure the vast quantities 

 of insects lurking theie. 



