302 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



GENUS SETOPHAGA SWAINSON 

 Setophaga ruticilla (LiNN.). 



American Redstart. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 43}. 



Length about 5| ; extent about 8 inches ; bill and legs black. 



Male. Prevailing, color glossy black; the belly and under tail-coverts white; 

 sides of breast, large space at base of quills and basal half of tail-feathers, except 

 middle pair which are black on inner webs, and axillaries orange red ; sides and 

 belly often tinged with orange-red ; terminal third of tail and wings, except as de- 

 scribed previously, blackish. 



" Female with the black replaced by grayish-olive above, by brownish-white be- 

 neath ; the head tinged with ash ; a grayish-white lore and ring round the eye ; 

 the red of the male replaced by yellow." Young male similar to adult female but 

 browner above, the yellow more of a reddish hue ; immature males are often seen 

 with glossy black feathers singly or in patches. Two or three years are, it is said, 

 required before this bird gains its perfect plumage. 



Habitat. North America, north to Fort Simpson, west regularly to the Great 

 Basin, casually to the Pacific coast, breeding from the middle portion of the United 

 States northward. In winter, the West Indies, and from southern Mexico through 

 Central America to northern South America. 



The Redstart during- migrations May and September is abundant 

 and very generally distributed throughout the state. Although found 

 in all sections of our commonwealth as a summer resident, as such it 

 is much more numerous in the northern parts and mountainous regions 

 than elsewhere. In the counties of Erie, Crawford, Ly coming-, Blair, Cen- 

 tre, Sullivan, Potter, McKean, and in fact in nearly all the hig-her moun- 

 tainous regions, it is a rather common breeder, but in Chester, Dela- 

 ware, Bucks and Lancaster counties it is seldom found breeding-. Fre- 

 quents chiefly forests, but often, in company with other warblers, visits 

 fruit and shade trees about houses, lawns and parks. The male, in his 

 showy dress of black, fiery orang-e and white, is one of the most attrac- 

 tive inhabitants of the woods. Like a flycatcher, he darts from his 

 perch with clicking bill to secure flying- insects. In addition to their 

 sharp and rapid song, these birds when hopping about the trees, fre- 

 quently spread their tails ; this peculiar habit of opening and closing 

 the tail will often aid you in recognizing a Redstart, in the tops of high 

 trees, when it otherwise might be unknown. The nest, a compact, cup - 

 shaped structure, composed of various vegetable fibers, spiders' webs, 

 and horse hair, is built in the fork or on the horizontal limb of a small 

 tree, six to twenty-five feet from the ground. The eggs, mostly four, 

 are grayish-white or light greenish-white, thinly speckled or blotched 

 with brown and purplish. They measure about .63 long by .50 wide. 

 The Redstart feeds exclusively on an insect diet, consisting chiefly of 

 flies, spiders, plant-lice, butterflies, beetles and different larvae. 



