ACCOMPLISHED VOCALISTS. 93 



this eccentric singer; they must be heard over and 

 over again to be remembered. They remind one of 

 the weird effect of an seolian harp or a singing tele- 

 graph pole,* but they are twice as nlysterious. 



But the most mysterious singer of the woodland 

 is the chipper and restless little redstart (Setophaga 

 ruticilla), whose jet - black 

 head and orange shoul- 

 ders are continually 

 perking out from the 

 bordering green of the 

 highway, and surprising one 



° ■^' r o The Redstart. 



by a sudden and transient 



glimpse of bright color. This little fellow does not 

 perch on the tree-top like the indigo bird and the 

 song sparrow when he sings ; he evades the public 

 eye, and chirrups on the other side of the tree from 

 the inquisitive observer. His song, much more 

 sprightly than that of the veery, and much less seri- 

 ous, runs thus : gv* ^ . ' — ^ ^ He is ever 



on the alert 



J Chi' we che-we-\ 



for an in- 

 hesitates to 



sect, and never ^ Chewe oie-Me-we-n/e uie-weo. 



cut his song short when a tempting mouthful meets 

 his eye in the shape of some "crawly bug" on a 



* In extremely cold weather, if one's ear is placed against the 

 telegraph pole one will hear a remarkable harmonic vibration of 

 the wires, like that of an seolian harp. 



