636 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Nature to make one device serve two ends? The actions of two seen 
among the live oaks of the ranch the last of March suggested courtship 
display. To be sure they may have been quite unregardful of each 
other’s presence and their actions nothing out of the ordinary, but 
what flaunting of plumes, what mad chasing through the oaks, what 
incessant opening and closing of the white tail shears! 
“In catching insects they often dropped through the air or made 
downward swoops in conventional Redstart and Flycatcher-manner, and 
once one dropped about twenty feet to catch on a hanging rope and 
then on a vine that swung with it prettily; but in the main they hunted 
in the sycamore and live oak tops and markedly and perhaps preferably 
on the great slanting trunks of the live oaks where the crevices of the 
bark seemed to supply a ready feast. Even in the mesquites, a Painted 
Redstart was seen flying from one trunk to another. On the oaks, 
when the long black and white fan tail was outspread against the bark 
the suggestion was of a museum specimen, a pinned-out gorgeous butter¬ 
fly. Another interesting pose of the Redstart’s suggesting a close 
scrutiny for insects was a forward tilt of the body with the black crest 
raised enquiringly. 
“In hunting habits a combination of Redstart, Flycatcher, Creeper, 
and Sparrow, this individual bird may be seen hopping over the ground 
or hopping and flitting lightly up the side of a slanting tree. This 
surprising characteristic was illustrated one day at the ranch. After 
a tour of the live oaks, a sudden gleam of the rich carmine which 
glows under a stray sunbeam, together with a rich contralto call, 
announced the Redstart’s descent to the corrugated iron roof of the 
old adobe ranch house. An apparently unexpected answer to his 
call from the mesquite overhead was greeted so joyfully that it seemed 
for a moment as if he would forget about dinner and fly to his comrade. 
But it was getting late and he must keep at work or go hungry to bed. 
So he proceeded to hunt over the roof, hopping from one corrugation 
to another on his short legs as a man walks ties, occasionally skipping 
one or making a misstep and dropping in between. He partly crossed 
the roof twice with his droll short-legged hops, picking up a few tidbits 
as he went. Another time, when two of the birds were seen hunting near 
together they separated, perhaps to keep to unworked territories. 
“The rare pleasure of watching these unusual and fascinating 
Painted Redstarts was ours at intervals for nearly six weeks, for 
while they apparently went on up the canyon on warm days, they 
drifted back on cool days. Once one was reported to me by the 
ranchman’s wife during a warm wave, and when I expressed my 
surprise she assured me that he was 1 hopping around as happy as 
