AMERICAN REDSTART. 283 



the other, when the whole chain of created beings seem united 

 to each other by such amazing gradations, that bespeak, not ran- 

 dom chance and accidental degeneracy, but the magnificent de- 

 sign of an incomprehensibly wise and omnipotent Creator? 



The American Redstart builds frequently in low bushes, in 

 the fork of a small sapling, or on the drooping branches of the 

 elm, within a few feet of the ground; outwardly it is formed of 

 flax well wound together, and moistened with its saliva, inter- 

 spersed here and there with pieces of lichen, and lined with a 

 very soft downy substance. The female lays five white eggs, 

 sprinkled with gray, and specks of blackish. The male is ex- 

 tremely anxious for its preservation; and on a person's approach- 

 ing the place will flirt about within a few feet, seeming greatly 

 distressed. 



The length of this species is five inches, extent six and a quar- 

 ter; the general colour above is black, which covers the whole 

 head and neck, and spreads on the upper part of the breast in 

 a rounding from; where, as well as on the head and neck, it is 

 glossed with steel blue; sides of the breast, below this black, the 

 inside of the wings, and upper half of the wing-quills, are of a 

 fine aurora colour; but the greater and lesser coverts of the wings 

 being black conceal this; and the orange, or aurora colour, ap- 

 pears only as a broad transverse band across the wings; from 

 thence to the tip they are brownish; the 'four middle feathers of 

 the tail are black, the other eight of the same aurora colour, and 

 black towards the tips; belly and vent white, slightly streaked 

 with pale orange; legs black; bill of the true Muscicapa form, 

 triangular at the base, beset with long bristles, and notched near 

 the point; the female has not the rich aurora band across the 

 wing; her back and crown is cinereous inclining to olive; the 

 white below is not so pure; lateral feathers of the tail and sides 

 of the breast greenish yellow; middle tail feathers dusky brown. 

 The young males of a year old are almost exactly like the fe- 

 male, differing in these particulars, that they have a yellow 

 band across the wings which the female has not, and the back 

 is more tinged with brown; the lateral tail feathers are also yel- 





