AMERICAN REDSTART 



105 



one of the other, when the whole chain of created bemgs seem 

 united to each other by such amazing gradations, that bespeak, not 

 random chance and accidental degeneracy, but the magnificent de- 

 sign of an incomprehensibly wise and omnipotent Creator? 



The American Redstart builds frequently in low bushes, in 

 the fork of a small sapling, or on the drooping branches of the elm, 

 within a few feet of the ground ; outwardly it is formed of flax well 

 wound together, and moistened with its saliva, interspersed here 

 and there with pieces of lichen, and lined with a very soft downy 

 substance. The female lays five white eggs, sprinkled with grey, 

 and specks of blackish. The male is extremely anxious for its 

 preservation; and on a person^s approaching the place will flirt 

 about within a few feet, seeming greatly distressed. 



The length of this species is five inches, extent six and a quar- 

 ter; the general color above is black, which covers the whole head 

 and neck, and spreads on the upper part of the breast in a round- 

 ing form; where, as well as on the head and neck, it is glossed 

 with steel blue ; sides of the breast, below this black, the inside of 

 the wings, and upper half of the wing-quills, are of a fine aurora 

 color; but the greater and lesser coverts of the wings being black 

 conceal this; and the orange, or aurora color, appears only as a 

 broad transverse band across the wings; from thence to the tip 

 they are brownish; the four middle feathers of the tail are black, 

 the other eight of the same aurora color, and black towards the 

 tips ; belly and vent white, slightly streaked with pale orange ; legs 

 black; bill of the true muscicapa form, triangular at the base, beset 

 with long bristles, and notched near the point; the female has not 

 the rich aurora band across the wing; her back and crown is cine- 

 reous, inclining to olive; the white below is not so pure; lateral 

 feathers of the tail and sides of the breast greenish yellow; middle 

 tail feathers dusky brown. The young males of a year old are 

 almost exactly like the female, differing in these particulars, that 

 they have a yellow band across the wings which the female has not, 



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