AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 145 



PAINTED REDSTART. 



A. O. U No. 688- (Setophaga picta.) 



RANGE. 



Central Mexico, north to Arizona and New Mexico. 



This strikingly colored flycatching Warbler is found only in mountain- 

 ous regions of southern Arizona and New Mexico, most abundant in the 

 Huachuca Mountains. They frequent the shrubbery and tangled wood- 

 land about mountain streams, feeding upon insects which they gleam 

 from the foliage of the trees and also catch on the wing, in mid air, as. 

 does the common Redstart of the east. As they flit about among the 

 branches, they are continually spreading and closing their tail to display 

 the contrasting black and white feathers, while now and then the 

 observer will catch a gleam like fire as their bright red underparts are 

 exposed for an instant. The male and female of this species are alike 

 in plumage but the male usually has a few feathers on the throat edged 

 with red. The greatest difference, beside plumage, from the eastern 

 Redstarts are in the nesting habits. Instead of making a compact well 

 made structure like that of our bird, they build upon the ground in 

 crevices among the rocks, or beside stumps or overhanging stones. 

 Their nests are made of fine strips of bark and fine grasses woven 

 together and lined with hair of fine grass. During May or June they 

 lay three or four, most often the latter number, pure white eggs with- 

 out gloss, these being finely sprinkled and speckled, chiefly around the 

 larger end, with reddish brown and lilac-gray, they average in size 

 .65 x 40 inches. 



Last spring I was on one of my daily strolls. In summer I am in the 

 habit of getting up a little before the sun and going into the woods as 

 it is the best time to observe birds. I was near the close of one of these 

 walks, and I remember having seen a good deal that morning. I was 

 passing through a strip of cedar woods near my house. As I was 

 walking along I heard aloud chattering and unusual fuss going on up in 

 a tree. I went nearer to the scene of action, and for a while the noise 

 stopped, but presently one bird started going again. Then it was I 

 first saw the cause of the racket. This bird, a Robin, had got its legs 

 caught in a piece of twine, and the twine had caught on a branch of the 

 tree. There the bird was fluttering and kicking, head downward. 

 What I surmised was that the Robin had been out gathering articles for 

 a nest and while flying through the trees the string had caught and held 

 the bird prisoner. I saw the bird was suffering and so I started to 

 climb the tree. The bird fluttered all the harder, but as I came nearer 

 it stopped. Soon I was near enough to reach the bird. At first she 

 was startled, but she quieted down when I didn't hurt her. I untangled 

 the string from the legs, and holding the bird a moment brushed her, 

 then opening my hands I let her free once more. At first she made no 

 attempt to go, but finding herself free again, she opened her wings and 

 flew. She lit ^n a neighboring tree and began to sing as if to thank 



me. FRIEND. 



