AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



305 



A FAMILY OF REDSTARTS. 



HE morning of June second found 

 me threading my way along a nar- 

 row foot path that wound its way in 

 and out through one of the most 

 delightful pieces of woodland that 

 ever a bird sang within. As I 

 walked slowly along, I was separat- 

 ing, by their voices, the many varie- 

 ties of birds whose babble was filling 

 the woods with melody. A brisk, 

 familiar "Chee-chee-chee" close be- 

 side me is evidence that a Redstart 

 is busily engaged at his work. I 

 instinctively part the bushes and 

 catch a glimpse of him in the act of 

 tearing fragments from a caterpil- 

 lar's nest. This material he carried 

 across the path to a small maple 

 about twenty feet from me, and wound it about the framework of a nest 

 that the two birds were just building. Before he left, his less gaudy 

 mate appeared with a like load, which she carefully and skillfully wove 

 in the growing home. Seated under the shade of a young tree not 

 more than six or eight feet distant, I watched the nest building opera- 

 tion for the following two hours, and learned a great deal about the 

 temperaments of these particular birds. 



The male was one of the brightest of Redstarts that I have ever seen. 

 He was very proud and conceited too. His mate too was fully as beau- 

 tiful. 



Undoubtedly she knew more about house-building than he, although 

 she could not convince him, and whenever she objected to his manner 

 of doing the work, he promptly drove her away with seemingly savage, 

 yet playful snapping of his beak. They were exceedingly active in all 

 their movements, and the way they would dodge around trees, over 

 and under the brush, taxed my eyes to follow their movements. In the 

 end, as is generally the case, she had her way about everything, for as 

 soon as his back was turned to go on another journey after building 

 material, she would set to work to arrange everything as she wished. 

 Naturally, with so much play, the nest grew very slowly and it was 

 over a week from the time I first saw them before the first ^^^ was 

 laid. 



A week later the nest contained four possibilities of future Redstarts 



