BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 403 
I am not a little surprised at the differences in the descrip- 
tions of the different writers as to its song. It is quite certain 
that not only do eyes see differently, but ears hear very much 
so. To my ear, or rather, to my imagination, Langille has 
given the best form of words to help recall the song of this 
bird in the following syllables: chi-reach-a-dee, reach-a-dee, 
reach-a-dee-chi, nervously and spiritedly delivered. 
He speaks of a characteristic ventriloquism in the utterance 
of its song by which one is often misled as to its nearness, 
which has often attracted my attention, and used to lead me 
away on a fool’s chase to locate the singer. They raise one 
brood, and retire from the country by the 15th of September. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Upper parts bluish-ash; a ring round the eye, with a line 
running to the nostrils, and the whole under parts (except the 
tail coverts which are white) bright yellow; centres of the 
feathers in the anterior half of the crown, the checks, con- 
tinuous with a line on the side of the neck to the breast, and a 
series of spots across the fore part of the breast, black; tail 
feathers unspotted. 
Length, 5.35; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.50. 
Habitat, eastern United States westward to the Plains. 
SETOPHAGA RUTICILUA (L.). (687.) 
AMERICAN REDSTART. 
A bird of the trees and bushes to such an emphatic degree, 
that persons of considerable observation have failed to see 
them altogether for several years in succession. Their habits 
are eminently calculated to keep them from the eye of the 
casual observer, for when pursuing their insect food on the 
wing, he is confident he has caught a glimpse of a flycatcher, 
and when searching the bark of the trunks and branches of 
the trees for eggs and larve, he calls it a warbler. Much of 
its time is spent upon the ground, amongst decayed logs and 
brush, in search of forms of insect life abounding in those 
localities, where it is a difficult matter to see them. 
However, the strongly contrasted colors of the male, and 
its dashing enthusiasm during the mating time, singing vigor- 
ously, and changing its perch from tree to tree in the woods, 
leads to its identity by those familiar with its habits and song. 
Rev. J. H. Langille describes its humble song as resembling 
the notes of a tin whistle, and says:—‘‘There is not a little 
variety in its whistling tones, and the theme is always well 
