6o 2 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
American Redstart : Setophaga ruticilla. S. R. 
Plate IV Fig 2 
Length: 5-5.50 inches. 
Male: Above brilliant blue-black, white belly, sides of body and wing 
linings salmon-orange, which color sometimes flushes the breast. 
Some orange on base of wings; tail feathers half orange and half 
black. Bill and feet black. 
Female: Brownish olive above and the orange of the male replaced 
by yellow. 
Song: Resembling that of the ' Yellow Warbler, “Sweet, Sweet, 
Sweeter ! ” but the word is only used three times, while it is re- 
peated seven times by the Warbler. 
Season: May to September; a common summer resident. 
Nest: A carefully made structure of moss fibres and sometimes horse- 
hair, set in a forked branch usually about twenty feet from the 
ground; I have seen one at the top of a small spruce. 
Eggs: Indistinguishable from other Warblers. 
In brilliancy of flame-like coloring the Redstart only yields 
precedence to the Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, and the 
Blackburnian Warbler, and, in contrast to the dark ever- 
greens, it seems a wind-blown firebrand, half glowing, half 
charred. 
A dainty and beautiful bird, with a habit of fluttering 
backward like a butterfly, that will help you to identify it; 
while besides its beauty, it does valiant work by eating the 
insects of terminal sprays, and never a bit of harm. 
Family Vireonidae: Vireos 
Red-eyed Vireo: Vireo olivaceus. S. R. 
Plate V Fig. 2 
Length: 5 - 75 - 6.25 inches. 
Male and Female: Olive-green above, crown ash with a dark marginal 
line. White line over eye and a brownish stripe through it. Be- 
low whitish, shaded with greenish yellow on sides and on under 
tail and wing coverts. The iris ruby-red. Bill dusky above and 
light below, feet lead-colored. 
Song: Emphatic staccato and oratorical — “ You see it — you know 
it — do you hear me? Do you believe it?” 
Season: Common summer resident; late April through September. 
Nest: Cup-like, pensile in slender forked branch of maple, birch, or 
apple tree; made of bark fibres, cobwebs, bits of paper, scraps of 
hornets’ nests, etc. 
Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, white, with brown spots on the larger end. 
