The American Redstart 



male (seen), June I, 191 1, by W. L. Dawson. To these I may add a rather regret- 

 ably unsatisfactory glimpse of a bird, also a young male, obtained in northern Men- 

 docino County, June 14, 1916, when in company with A. G. Vrooman. 



Authorities. — Emerson, Zoe, vol. 1, 1890, p. 45 (Haywards, June 20, 1880, 

 one spec); Belding, Land Birds Pac. Dist., 1890, p. 222 (Marysville Buttes, June 6, 

 1884, one spec); Osburn, Condor, vol. xi., 1909, p. 102 (Pasadena, Dec. 27, 1905, one 

 spec); Dawson, Condor, vol. xiii., 1911, p. 182 (Farallon Ids., June 1, 1911, one spec). 



THE REDSTART is the presiding genius of eastern woodland and 

 grove, and because he is only casual with us we are going to depart from 

 our usual custom and snatch a glance at an eastern page. 1 "He is a bit 

 of a tyrant among the birds, and among his own kind is exceedingly 

 sensitive upon the subject of metes and bounds. As for the insect world, 

 he rules it with a rod of iron. See him as he moves about through a file 

 of slender poplars. He flits restlessly from branch to branch, now peering 

 up at the under surface of a leaf, now darting into the air to secure a 

 heedless midge and closing upon it with an emphatic snap, now spreading 

 the tail in pardonable vanity or from sheer exuberance of spirits; but 

 ever and anon pausing just long enough to squeeze out a half-scolding 

 song. The paler-colored female, contrary to the usual wont, is not less 

 active nor less noticeable than the male, except as she is restrained 

 for a season by the duties of incubation. She is even believed to sing 

 a little on her own account, not because her mate does not sing enough 

 for two, but because she — well, for the same reason that a woman whistles, 

 — and good luck to her! 



"During the mating season great rivalries spring up, and males 

 will chase each other about in most bewildering mazes, like a pair of 

 great fire-flies, and with no better weapons — fighting fire with fire. 

 When the nesting site is chosen the male is very jealous of intruders, and 

 bustles up in a threatening fashion, which quite overawes most birds of 

 guileless intent. 



"Redstart's song is sometimes little better than an emphatescent 

 squeak. At other times his emotion fades after the utterance of two 

 or three notes, and the last one dies out. A more pretentious effort is 

 represented by Mr. Chapman as 'Ching, ching, chee; ser-wee, swee, swee- 

 e-e-e.' Many variations from these types may be noted, and I once 

 mistook the attempt of a colorless young stripling of one summer for 

 that of a Pileolated Warbler." 



The ancestral home of the Redstart was Mexico, but this species 

 seems to have reached its northwestern range, in Utah, Idaho, and 

 eastern Washington, by overflowing from the saturated East through 

 the Rocky Mountains. Doubtless the western residents now find 



'"The Birds of Ohio." p. 196. 



519 



