American Redstart 471 
83, p. 159; Drew 85, p. 15; Beckham 85, p. 141; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 
118, 220; 04, p. 132; Keyser 02, p. 184; Henderson 03, p. 237; 09, 
p. 240 ; Warren 06, p. 24 ; Chapman 07, p. 237 ; Cary 09, p. 183 ; Hersey 
& Rockwell 09, p. 121. 
Description—Male—General colour above, including the head all 
round, and upper-breast black ; wings with a cross-band of salmon ; 
tail with the four outer pairs of feathers salmon, with black tips, the 
central pair black, the other pair with salmon on the outer web only ; 
under-parts white, tinged with salmon, and with a brilliant patch of 
salmon on either side of the breast ; iris brown, bill black, paler in the 
fall, legs dark brown. Length 4-8; wing 2-5; tail 2-25; culmen -30; 
tarsus -65. 
The female has the crown and sides of the head grey, and the back 
olive-green ; the wings and tail slightly washed with the same colour ; 
the salmon of wings, tail and breast of the male replaced by yellow ; 
the under-parts from the chin to the under tail-coverts white. Young 
males in the fall closely resemble the females, and in the following spring 
show a few black feathers about the chest and head, but do not acquire 
the full male dress until the second year. 
Distribution.—Breeding from Alaska and Newfoundland to Utah, 
Kansas and North Carolina, wintering in the West Indies and South 
America as far as Ecuador and British Guiana. 
In Colorado the Redstart can hardly be described as common, 
though not infrequently met with along the eastern foothills, especially 
on the spring migration, and in the mountains up to about 8,000 feet, 
where it is stated to breed. It is absent, or at any rate quite rare, in 
the western part of the State. The following are migration records : 
Fort Lyon, May 14th (Cooke), Pueblo, May 27th (Beckham), El Paso 
co., May 18th (Allen & Brewster), Barr Lake, May 10th (Hersey & 
Rockwell), Boulder, May 31st (Minot), Loveland, May 9th (Cooke), 
Trippe states that it breeds near Idaho Springs, and Carter (Cooke) 
in Middle Park, but no details are given. More recently Cary observed 
a few migrating individuals on the Lower Snake River, twenty miles 
west of Baggs Crossing, in August. 
Habits.—The Redstart frequents parks, groves and 
deep woods ; it lives largely about tree tops, and flits 
restlessly about with outspread tail and open wings, 
making a display of its bright-coloured plumage, darting 
quickly after a passing insect, and snapping its bill 
at every capture. 
The nest, according to Goss, is situated in small trees, 
as a rule from three to even thirty feet above the ground ; 
