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687. American Redstart. Setophaga ruticilla. L, 5-41. Plate LXXIV B. Adult 
male: shining black with white abdomen and undertail-coverts, orange spots at sides 
of breast, on wings, and sides of tail. Female and juveniles with black replaced by dull 
olive, changing to greyish on head and brown on wings and tail. Throat dusky white, 
changing to white below. Spots at sides of breast and on wings and tail similar to those 
of the male but reduced to dull yellow. 
Distinction s. A perfectly characteristic bird in all plumages. No other Warbler 
has anything like this combination of orange-red and black, the former replaced in female 
by similar yellow or white patches on tail and wings. Juveniles have a slight yellow 
suffusion over breast and are without the wing blotch, but that of the tail is always present. 
Some young males in the spring look like females, but with irregular patches of the perfect 
male plumage showing on throat. 
Field Marks. Colour is the most easily noted distinction, but even in black silhouette, 
the manner in which the long tail is thrashed about soon becomes familiar and distinctive. 
Nesting, In the crotch of a sapling in nest of fine strips of bark, fibres, and plant 
down lined with tendrils and fine rootlets and nearly always covered outside with silvery 
bark strips. 
Distribution. North America and northern South America. In Canada north to the 
Mackenzie and northern British Columbia. 
The brilliancy of a high-plumage Redstart against the dark green of 
the trees is a constant source of pleasure to even the most blas6 observer 
and is a sight that never loses its charm. Its sprightly movements, con- 
stant fluttering, and spreading of wings and tail give it a vivacity that few 
other species exhibit. Like many other American birds it was named by early 
settlers who regarded it as a familiar Old World form, though the resemb- 
lance is far from close. 
FAMILY — MOTACILLIDAE. MEADOW WAGTAILS AND PIPITS 
A family of chiefly Old World distribution that may be defined for 
recognition in Canada as gregarious ground birds with warbler-like bills 
and long hind claw (Figure 304). They are most like the Horned Lark in general 
outline and habit, but are slenderer and lighter in build and of a more 
earthy colour. There are but two species to consider in Canada. 
Bill and foot of American Pipit Figure 305 
long hind claw. American Pipit; natural size. 
697. American Pipit, titlark. Anthus rubescens. L, 6-38. A ground-coloured 
and ground-haunting bird; bill very warbler-like but longer, hind claw elongated like that 
of the Longspur and the Homed Lark (Figure 305, compare with Figure 250, page 253). 
Adult (in highest spring plumage): greyisn above, purest on head and growing slightly 
olive on rump; back faintly mottled with dark feather centres; pinkish buff below, with 
sparse fine breast stripes of brownish grey, tending to form a necklace across breast and 
extending along flanks; wings brown with faded feather edges. This is rather an excep- 
tional plumage, the one most often seen even in spring is evenly dull olive slightly 
mottled above; buffy white below with diffuse and more or less aggregated spots descend- 
ing sides of throat and extending across breast and along flanks. 
