276 AMERICAN REDSTART. 
meadow, and Philadelphia lilies! proudly hold up their radiant large flowers, are ringing 
with the cheerful strains of the Bobolink and the Meadow Lark. Wandering observingly 
through the woods at the time when the wild grape-vine’ fills the woodland with 
penetrating mignonette-like fragrance, we may often perceive a lovely little bird flutter- 
ing and hopping among the branches. It is the AMERICAN RepsTart. Like a true 
Flycatcher it is continually sallying forth in the air to catch small winged insects “‘with 
a sharp click of the bill, or chasing them hotly along the limbs of trees, when its gleam- 
ing colors are fully displayed, and flash in contrast with the green foliage.” It is one 
of the most active and adroit Flycatchers, flying repeatedly with great rapidity from 
the tops of tall trees down to the ground in graceful zigzag lines. The glossy black of 
the head and breast, the white color of the under-parts, but more especially the glowing 
orange-red tint of the tail, wings, and sides of the body contrasts sharply with the 
fresh green of the leaves and the pink and white blossoms of the apple, plum, and 
cherry trees, which this bird frequently visits during the spring migration. In the 
Eastern, Middle, and Northern States the Redstart is a common summer resident. Its 
gorgeous colors show that it belongs to a semi-tropical group of Warblers, which are 
very abundant in Mexico and Central America. Its winter home extends ovet the West 
Indies, southern Mexico and Central America, as far south as northern South America. 
In summer it breeds north to Fort Simpson, west regularly to the Great Basin and 
casually to the Pacific Coast. In south-western Missouri it is a common summer resident, 
choosing for its home the deep shady woods, where only a sparse growth of under- 
wood occurs. In south-eastern Texas it is very abundant, when the large flowering 
magnolias are in full bloom, about April 15 to 25. In Wisconsin it is quite common 
about May 9, at a time when the plum trees are snowy with blossoms. It then even 
visits the gardens and parks of Milwaukee and other cities. Its movements in spring 
are quite regular, and at the height of the season the Redstart is too abundant to be 
overlooked.* 
The departure for its winter-quarters commences in south-western Missouri about 
Sept. 15; by the last of that month all have left. 
The Redstart is one of our most beautifully colored birds, and in a certain degree 
we may call it a familiar bird, which is unusual among Warblers. Its beauty, the 
large numbers in which it appears in spring, its rapid movements make it more con- 
spicuous to the eye of the indifferent than any other Warbler except the Summer 
Yellowbird. It is a bird that deserves to be known by every lover of nature. Dr. Elliott 
Coues, in his unrivaled work, “Birds of the Colorado Valley,” gives the following 
classical sketch of this bird: 
“The Redstart shines among the birds that throng the woods in spring, when his 
transparent beauty flashes like a lambent tongue of flame at play amidst the tender 
pale green foliage of the trees. The brilliant little meteor glances here and there in 
seeming sport, with most exuberant vivacity, as if delighted to display in every action 
1 Lilium Canadense, L. superbum, and L. philadelphia, 2 Vitis cordifolia, 
* At St. Louis the following record on the Redstart’s arrival was made by Mr. Otto Widmann: 
“April 17, first old males; April 26, bulk of old males; April 30, first females; May 7, height of transient old 
males; May 9, height of transient females: May 11, first one-year-old male; May 16, young males more conspicuous 
than old males. 
