AMERICAN REDSTART 



Male — Upper parts, throat and breast black; belly 

 white; sides of breast, part of the wings and tail reddish- 

 orange or flame color. Female — Olive-slate, where male is 

 black, and dull yellow instead of orange; bill and feet black. 

 Length, five inches. 



Nest, strips of bark, leaf stems and down compactly woven 

 together and lined with grass, horse-hair and rootlets. It is 

 firmly saddled on a limb or wedged in a crotch of a small tree, 

 from five to twenty feet above the ground. Eggs, four to five, 

 dull white, spotted around the larger end with brown or lilac, 

 .65 X .50 inches. 



This bright, beautiful bird comes north from the tropics 

 early in May and returns again in September. Though con- 

 fined to the woods during the mating season, it is often seen 

 about the orchards and gardens both before and after that 

 period. Sometimes the nest is built in an apple tree near a 

 farm-house. 



This bird belongs with the Warblers. It lives prin- 

 cipally upon insects which it takes like a Flycatcher. From the 

 top of a tree, it will launch into the air and snap up a passing 

 fly or gnat with the skill of a Wood Pewee, and then return 

 again to a branch. But only for a moment does it rest. With 

 neck outstretched and tail waving like a -fan, it runs along a 

 limb for a few feet and plunges into the midst of a swarm 

 of insects floating far below. The repeated snapping of its bill 

 among them proves most clearly what it is doing in these wild 

 charges. Being an industrious searcher also for the caterpillars 

 that feed upon the leaves, it is a true protector of the forests. 



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