AMERICAN REDSTART 287 



of Portions of Arizona, Auk, VII, 1890, 261. (4) O. W. Howard, Summer 

 Resident Warblers of Arizona, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club (=Condor), I, 1899, 65. 



Genus SETOPHAGA Swainson 



Setophaga differs but little in structure from Wilsonia and were 

 it not for its markedly different coloration would doubtless be grouped 

 with it by some authors. In S. ruticilla the bill is broader at the base, 

 the rictal bristles longer, but this is not true of S. picta in which the 

 rictal bristles average shorter than in Wilsonia. The wing is much as 

 in Wilsonia but the tail is more rounded, the outer feathers being 

 decidedly the shortest. 



The genus contains two species of which 5". ruticilla ranges 

 throughout eastern North America west to the Rocky Mountains and 

 northwest to Alaska, while 5". picta is found from southern Arizona 

 and New Mexico south to Honduras. 



Both are distinguished for the beauty of their plumage but while 

 the adult male of 5". ruticilla is strikingly different from and brighter 

 than the female, the sexes in 5". picta are alike. Furthermore, S. picta 

 dons its full plumage in the first molt, shortly after leaving the nest, 

 while 5". ruticilla does not acquire its mature dress until after its first 

 nesting season, or at the beginning of its second year. 



American Redstart 



SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA (Linn.) Plate XXIII 



Distinguishing Characters. — No difficulty will be experienced in recognizing 

 this strikingly marked species, the salmon or yellow markings in wings and 

 tail alone affording a sufficient clue to its identity. But one should be careful 

 to avoid mistaking the young male for the female, this being one of the few 

 Warblers, in which the male does not assume its adult plumage before the first 

 nesting season after its birth. As a rule, however, the young Spring male 

 has some black feathers on the underparts, a character not shown by the 

 female. Length (skin), 4.75; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.25; bill, .35. 



Adult J, Spring. — Upperparts shining black; central pair of tail-feathers 

 black, next pair basally salmon-orange on the outer web, remaining four feathers 

 entirely orange for basal two-thirds, the terminal third black; wings black with 

 a band of orange, increasing in width from without inward, across their base; 

 sides of head, throat, and breast black extending to the sides of the body; 

 belly white, more or less tinged with orange ; sides of breast brilliantly salmon- 

 orange extending backwards to flanks in decreasing amount. As might be 

 expected, even in adult specimens, there is much variation in the intensity and 

 extent of the orange markings. 



Adult <J, Fall. — Not certainly distinguishable from <? in Spring, but feathers 

 of throat and breast often with white tips, those of back tipped with brown. 



