THE RED START. 249 



shorter than the head ; hind toe equal to the lateral ; coloration emhracing more or 

 less of red in northern species. 



This genus differs from Myiodioctes chiefly in the longer, broader tail, and rather 

 shorter tarsi and toes, the hinder especially; the bill is more muscicapine; the 

 culmen nearly straight to the abruptlj- decurved and much notched tip; the gonys 

 straight; in Myiodioctes the vertical outlines are more convex; the gonys more 

 ascending; the tip gently and but slightly decurved. 



SETOPHAGA RJJTlClLLk. — Swainson. 



The Red Start. 



Musdcapa ruticilla, Linnjeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 326. Wil. Am. Om., I. 

 (1808) 103. Aud. Om. Biog., I. (1831) 202; V. (1839) 428. 

 Sylvania ruticilla, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 291. 



Description. 



Hale. — Prevailing color black ; a central line on the breast, the abdomen, and 

 under tail coverts, white; some feathers in the latter strongly tinged with dark- 

 brown; bases of all the quills, except the inner and outer, and basal half of all 

 the tail feathers, except the middle one, a patch on each side of the breast, and the 

 axillary region orange-red, of a vermilion shade on the breast. Female with the 

 black replaced by olive-green above, by brownish-white beneath; the head tinged 

 with ash; a grayish-white lore and ring round the eye; the red of the male 

 replaced by yellow. 



Length, five and twenty-five one-hundredths inches; wing, two and fifty one- 

 hundredths inches; tail, two and forty-five one-hund"redths inches. 



This quite common species is a summer resident, and 

 breeds in all the New-England States. It arrives from the 

 South from about the first to the middle of May, accord- 

 ing to latitude, and commences 

 building about the first week 

 in June. The nest is usually 

 placed on a low limb of a 

 small tree, often in a hori- 

 zontal fork, seldom more than 

 ten feet from the ground. It 

 is constructed of strips of 

 cedar bark, grape-vine bark, 

 grasses, and fine weeds : these 

 materials are adjusted neatly, and agglutinated by the bird's 

 saliva into a compact structure, to the exterior of which 

 are attached, or plastered on by the bird's saliva, fragments 



