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MUSCICAPA RUTICILLA— LINN. 



AMERICAN REDSTART. 



American Redstart, Muscicaparuticilla, Wils. Amer. Orn. 

 Muscicapa Ruticilla, Bonap. Syn. 



American Redstart, Muscicapa ruticilla, Aud. Amer. Orn. 

 American Redstart, Muscicapa ruticilla, Nutt. Man. 



Specific Character — Basal half of wings three fourths the length 

 of tail ; sides of the body bright reddish orange. Adult with 

 head, neck all round, back, fore part of the breast, the wing and 

 upper tail coverts black ; primaries and secondaries commencing at 

 the base, orange-red, which color extends midway the length of the 

 wings, rest part blackish-brown, terminal portion of the tail feathers 

 also black ; the rest part same as basal half of the wings, excepting 

 the middle pair of featheis, which have the entire length of their 

 inner webs the same color as the tips ; sides of body and lower wing 

 coverts bright reddish-orange ; rest of the lower parts white. Fe- 

 male, with the upper parts yellowish-brown ; the markings on the 

 wings, tail, sides of the breast, and lower wing coverts yellow. — 

 Length five inches, wing two and five-eighths. 



This most beautiful of all our Flycatchers, is distributed over the 

 Union. It is common in the woods and along the road-side, as well as 

 in the swamps and meadows; indeed, wherever its insect prey abounds, 

 this active bird is seen, mounting to the tops of the highest trees, or 

 darting rapidly through the low underbrush, uttering as it passes 

 from twig to twig a sprightly twitter. It usually builds its nest in 

 a low bush or sapling, and deposites four or five white eggs, speckled 

 with gray and dotted with black. It arrives among us in the latter 

 part of April, and returns southward late in September. 



