119 



REDSTART. 

 MUSCICAFA RUTICILLA, 

 [Plate XLV.— Fig. 2.] 



Edwards, 251,— Yellow tail, ArcU Zool II, p. 466, JVo. 301. 



BY recurring to vol. I, plate 6, of this work, the male of this 

 species may be seen in his perfect dress ; the present figure repre- 

 sents the young bird as he appears for the first two seasons ; the 

 female differs very little from this, chiefly in the green olive being 

 more inclined to ash. 



This is one of our summer birds, and from the circumstance 

 of being found off Hispaniola in November, is supposed to winter 

 in the islands. They leave Pennsylvania about the twentieth of 

 September; are dexterous flycatchers, tho ranked by European na- 

 turalists among the warblers, having the bill notched and beset 

 with long bristles. 



In its present dress the Redstart makes its appearance in 

 Pennsylvania about the middle or twentieth of April; and from 

 being heard chanting its few sprightly notes has been supposed by 

 some of our own naturalists to be a different species. I have, how- 

 ever, found both parents of the same nest in the same dress nearly ; 

 the female, eggs and nest, as well as the notes of the male, agree- 

 ing exactly with those of the Redstart; evidence sufficiently satis- 

 factory to me. 



Head above dull slate; throat pale buff; sides of the breast 

 and four exterior tail feathers fine yellow, tipt with dark brown; 

 wings and back greenish olive; tail coverts blackish, tipt with ash; 

 belly dull white; no white or yellow on the wings; legs dirty pur- 

 plish brown; bill black. 



