THE REDSTART 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 86 



Of all our warblers, extremely active birds though they are, not one 

 displays so many different motions in one short minute as a Redstart. 

 It dashes to and fro, up and down, in and out of the shrubbery, hither 

 and yon, with an infinite variety of movements like some brilliant, intoxi- 

 cated butterfly, whose exuberance and energy are utterly boundless. It 

 is a small bird, only about four and three-quarters inches long, but by 



A FEMALE REDSTART AT HER NEST 



its song and activity it keeps itself much more in evidence than many a 

 bird twice its size. 



"Ching. chilly, dice: scr-wee, swee, swe-e-e, he sings, and with wings 

 and tail outspread whirls about, dancing from limb to limb, darting up- 

 ward, floating downward, blown hither and thither like a leaf in the 

 breeze ; but the gnats dancing in the sunlight and the caterpillars feeding 

 in the shade of the leaves know to their sorrow that his erratic course is 

 guided by a purpose." 



So writes Frank M. Chapman. 



All during the song-season the male Redstart makes his presence 

 known, for he is an unusually constant singer and may be heard at almost 



