LAND BIRDS. 651 
298. Redstart. Setophaga ruticilla (Linn.). (687) 
Synonyms: American Redstart, Redstart Warbler, Redstart Flycatcher, Fire-tail.— 
Motacilla ruticilla, Linn., 1758.—Muscicapa ruticilla, Bodd., 1783.—Septohaga ruticilla 
of most authors. 
Figures 142, 143. 
The male in full plumage is unmistakable, the back, head, neck and upper 
breast being glossy blue-black, and the sides of the breast, a large patch 
in each wing, and the basal half of the tail, brilliant orange-red or flame 
color, while the lower breast and belly are white. The female is entirely 
different, the black being replaced by grayish-olive above and by white 
below, and the flame color replaced by lemon-yellow. 
Distribution.—North America, north to Ft. Simpson, west regularly 
to the Great Basin, breeding from the middle portions of the United States 
northward. In winter, the West Indies, southern Mexico, Central America 
and northern South America. 
This handsome little warbler is an abundant migrant throughout the 
state and occurs also as a summer resident in suitable places everywhere. 
Possibly it nests rather more freely in the central and southern 
parts of the state than at the north, yet Mr. 8. E. White a 
states that it occurred in amazing numbers on Mackinac Pa 
Island during summer, and the writer found it in large » 
numbers on Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, as well as every- > 
where along the south shore of Lake Superior from Marquette 4; 449 oven. 
to the Sault. In many parts of the state it exceeds the _ bird (a), Red- 
Yellow Warbler in numbers, and perhaps has equal claim to “tt “: 
be considered on the whole the most abundant species of warbler 
throughout the state. 
It arrives from the south rather early, Mr. Trombley recording it as 
early as April 23 and April 24 in different seasons, although ordinarily 
it does not reach Monroe county until about the first of May. At Ann 
Arbor Mr. Wood gives the earliest arrival in twenty-five years as April 
5, 1903, the average being May 6. Among more than a score of specimens 
from Michigan lighthouses the majority of spring records fall between 
May 11 and May 28, with a single record at Spectacle Reef Light, Lake 
Huron, June 2, 1891. One was killed on Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, 
May 19, 1887 and another June 6, 1894. The autumn records at Spectacle 
Reef Light range from September 16 to October 3, but the southward 
migration certainly begins long before the middle of September, often 
in August. 
Nesting begins in the southern counties from the middle to the end of 
May, and nests with eggs appear to be most abundant during the first 
week in June, yet many eggs are found late in June and occasionally even 
early in July, though the evidence of two broods is not complete. 
The nests vary much in location, but are very rarely more than twenty 
feet from the ground, the great majority not even ten feet up. They are 
built of grasses, strips of bark, and various hemp-like threads, thoroughly 
interwoven, often held together by spiders’ webs and caterpillars’ silk, 
and commonly lined with fine grass and sometimes a few horse hairs. 
The nest is seldom bulky, but is usually compact and well made, deeply 
hollowed and quite durable. It is sometimes found in the fork of a 
horizontal branch, but usually in the upright crotch of a small tree or 
large bush, where it is firmly seated but seldom well concealed. As a 
result the bird is very frequently victimized by the Cowhird, and an immense 
