MAY BIRDS. 51 



(dendroica czstiva) in the orchards and 

 gardens, everywhere to be heard. In Elm 

 Park the other day, I could easily have 

 counted twenty-five or thirty individuals. 

 This bird is very conspicuous, being of a 

 bright, greenish yellow, slightly streaked 

 with black. His song, which for several 

 weeks will be heard constantly, consists of 

 five or six pipes, ending abruptly in a 

 sharp quaver, the whole uttered with great 

 rapidity, but much less musical than a 

 sparrow-song. 



A song much resembling that of the 

 yellow-warbler, though considerably shorter 

 and weaker, is that of the beautiful little 

 redstart (setophaga ruticilla), another mem- 

 ber of the elegant warbler family, which is 

 very abundant in all our woods. The red- 

 start is black above and white beneath, 

 with beautiful patches of bright red on its 

 sides and breast. This bird was formerly 

 classed by ornithologists with the fly- 

 catchers, by reason of its habit of cap- 

 turing its insect food on the wing, but 

 now it takes its place with the family to 



