SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA : REDSTART. 175 



REDSTART. 

 SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA (Z.) Sw. 



Chars. Male, in full plumage : Glossy blue-black ; belly and breast 

 white ; sides of breast, lining of wings, bases of nearly all the 

 wing-quills and tail-feathers, flame-color ; this rich orange mak- 

 ing a conspicuous spot on the wings, and forming a transverse 

 outline with the black on the tail ; bill and feet black. Female : 

 Olive-gray or brownish where the male is black, and clear yellow 

 where the male is orange. Young males at first resemble the 

 female, and later, in the progress to mature coloration, show every 

 gradation in color between the two sexes, being often irregularly 

 patched with black feathers. (For details of changes of plumage, 

 see Coues, B. Col. Vail., p. 339.) Length, 5.00-5.50 ; extent, 7.50- 

 8.00 ; wing and tail, 2.25-2.50 ; bill, 0.35 ; tarsus, 0.65. 



The lovely Redstart, not less famous for its richness 

 of dress than the Blackburnian Warbler, and a bird 

 further conspicuous by its incessant activity and great 

 vivacity of manner, is a common summer resident 

 throughout New England. It reaches this country 

 about the first of May, soon becomes generally dis- 

 persed, and breeds in all suitable situations, retiring 

 late in September. It is one of the most active and 

 adroit of flycatchers, continually sallying forth in the 

 air to capture small winged insects with a sharp click 

 of the bill, or chasing them hotly along the limbs of 

 trees, when its gleaming colors are fully displayed, 

 and flash in contrast w r ith the green foliage. The song 

 is hearty, though quaint and not very musical, and 

 the bird seems very fond of exercising its vocal pow- 

 ers. There is dash and spirit in everything'it does ; 

 and what with singing, courting, quarrelling, and for- 

 aging for food, the nervous Redstart seems never at 



