140 AMERICAN REDSTART. 



Redstart of Europe [Motacilla phoenieurus) ; but besides being decisively 

 of a different genus, it is very different both in size and in the tints and 

 disposition of the colors of its plumage. Buffon goes even so far as to 

 question whether the differences between the two be more than what 

 might be naturally expected from change of climate. This eternal 

 reference of every animal of the new world to that of the old, if adopted 

 to the extent of this writer, with all the transmutations it is supposed 

 to have produced, would leave us in doubt whether even the Ka-te-dids* 

 of America were not originally Nightingales of the old world, degener- 

 ated by the inferiority of the food and climate of this upstart continent. 

 We have in America many different species of birds that approach so 

 near in resemblance to one another, as not to be distinguished but by 

 the eye of a naturalist, and on a close comparison ; these live in the 

 same climate, feed on the same food, and are, I doubt not, the same now 

 as they were five thousand years ago ; and ten thousand years hence, 

 if the species then exist, will be found marked with the same nice 

 discriminations as at present. Is it therefore surprising, that two 

 different species placed in different quarters of the world, should have 

 certain near resemblances to one another without being bastards, or 

 degenerated descendants, the one of the other, when the w^hole chain of 

 created beings seem united to each other by such amazing gradations, 

 that bespeak, not random chance and accidental degeneracy, but the 

 magnificent design of an incomprehensibly wise and omnipotent Creator ? 



The American Redstart builds frequently in low bushes, in the fork 

 of a small sapling, or on the drooping branches of the elm, within a few 

 feet of the ground ; outwardly it is formed of flax well wound together, 

 and moistened with its saliva, interspersed here and there with pieces of 

 lichen, and lined with a very soft downy substance. The temeble lays fiver 

 white eggs, sprinkled with gray, and specks of blackish. The male is ex- 

 tremely anxious for its preservation ; and on a person's approaching the 

 place will flirt about within a few feet, seeming greatly distressed. 



The length of this species is five inches, extent six and a quarter; 

 the general color above is black, which covers the whole head and neck, 

 and spreads on the upper part of the breast in a rounding form ; where, 

 as well as on the head and neck, it is glossed with steel blue ; sides of 

 the breast, below this black, the inside of the wings, and upper half of 

 the wing-quills, are of a fine aurora color ; but the greater and lesser 

 coverts of the wings being black conceal this ; and the orange, or aurora 

 color, appears only as a broad transverse band across the wings ; from 

 thence to the tip they are brownish ; the four middle feathers of the tail 

 are black, the other eight of the same aurora color, and black towards 



*'A species of Gryllus, well known for its lively chatter during the evenings 

 and nights of September and October. 



