652 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
number of nests must be deserted each year on this account. This fact 
alone is probably sufficient to account for the large number of nests found 
late in June and early in July. 
The eggs are three to five, but most often four, white, greenish-white 
or grayish-white, speckled with brown and lilac, and average .63 by 48 
inches. There is much variation in the ground color and the size of the 
spots, so that in a dozen sets of eggs no two may resemble each other 
closely. 
This is one of the most restless and active of our warblers, seldom quiet 
for a moment, but always flitting about, snapping at insects on the wing, 
opening and closing the tail, spreading the wings and generally making 
itself conspicuous. 
According to Audubon: “Its pleasing notes resemble the sounds 
‘teetee-whee, teetee-whee,’ with sometimes a different note equally clear 
which may be expressed by the syllables 
‘wizz-wizz-wizz.’” Chapman writes the 
song “clung, clung, chee; ser-wee-swee, 
swee-e-c.”” Like the song of most other 
warblers the Redstart’s is perfectly 
characteristic, but unless one has an 
unusual ear he will often mistake it for 
the song of some other warbler, at least 
at the beginning of each season, before 
he has refreshed his memory with new 
songs. 
The food of the Redstart resembles 
that of the other warblers of this group, 
consisting mainly of insects, with only 
an occasional berry or seed. That itis Fig. 143. Redstart. From Baird, Brewer & 
eminently beneficial cannot for a oe tet Seen 
moment be doubted by any one who 
has watched the bird for any length of time in an orchard or grove. The 
number of insects taken is simply astonishing, and since the bird is one 
of our very common species its work in behalf of the fruit grower is of the 
utmost importance. 
The Redstart is by no means confined to any one kind of woodland, 
but seems to be more common among deciduous growths than among 
evergreens, although by no means rare in mixed woods with a heavy 
sprinkling of spruce and pine. It more often nests, however, in somewhat 
heavy woods, where oaks, poplars, maples and similar trees are scattered 
here and there, with an abundance of horn-beam, flowering dogwood and 
other small trees. It neither seeks nor avoids swampy ground, but is 
rarely found in mere thickets in open country, or on the bushy islands in 
marshes, at least during the nesting season. During migration the bird 
may be found almost anywhere. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Head and neck all around, upper breast, and entire upper parts, deep 
black; breast and sides orange red, the rest of the under parts white, more or less streaked 
with black; basal half of most of the wing and tail-feathers orange, remainder black; 
bill and feet black. Female entirely different; the black of the male replaced above by 
grayish-olive, and below by white; the red of the male replaced by yellow, usually pale. 
Young males resemble the females, but are variously intermediate, the yellow often tinged 
with orange; probably they do not acquire the full plumage until the second or third year 
Length 4.75 to 5.75 inches; wing 2.40 to 2.55; tail 2.30 to 2.45. 
