AMERICAN REDSTART. 203 



giving chase to various birds, snapping at them without any effect, as if 

 solely for the purpose of keeping up the natural liveliness of its disposi- 

 tion. 



The young males of this species do not possess the brilliancy and 

 richness of plumage which the old birds display, until the second year, 

 the first being spent in the garb worn by the females ; but, towards the 

 second autumn, appear mottled with pure black and vermilion on their 

 sides. Notwithstanding their want of full plumage, they breed and sing 

 the first spring like the old males. 



I have looked for several minutes at a time on the ineffectual attacks 

 which this bird makes on wasps while busily occupied about their own 

 nests. The bird approaches and snaps at them, but in vain ; for the 

 wasp elevating its abdomen, protrudes its sting, which prevents its being 

 seized. The male bird is represented in the plate in this posture. 



Its nest is generally made on a low bush or sapling, and has the ap- 

 pearance of hanging to the twigs. It is slight, and is composed of 

 lichens and dried fibres of rank weeds or grape vines, nicely hned with 

 soft cottony materials. The female lays from four to six white eggs, 

 sprinkled with ash-grey and blackish dots. It rears only a single brood 

 in a season. The old birds, I am inclined to think, leave the United 

 States a month or three weeks before the young, some of which linger in 

 the deep swamps of the States of Mississippi and Louisiana until the 

 beginning of November. 



MusciCAPA RuTiciLLA, Linn, Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 236— Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 



p. 473.^CA. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 68. 

 American Redstart, Muscicapa Ruticilla, TVils. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 103, 



PL vi. fig. 6. adult male; vol. v. p. 119. PL 45, fig. 2, young. — Lath. Synops. 



voL iv. p. 427- 



Adult Male. Plate XL. Fig. 1. 



Bill of ordinary length, depressed at the base, compressed toward the 

 tip, acute ; upper mandible sHghtly notched, and deflected at the tip ; 

 lower straight. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear. Head and neck of mode- 

 rate size. Body rather slender. Feet moderately long, slender ; tarsus 

 covered with short scutella before, with a longitudinal keeled plate be- 

 hind, longer than the middle toe ; toes slender, free ; claws small, weak, 

 slightly arched, compressed, acute. 



