This species, in its spring and autumnal migrations, is abundant in Louisiana and Texas, as well as in the Gulf States. Wilson speaks of meeting with it in the then “Mississippi Territory.” Audubon gives it as abundant in Louisiana, and Nuttall as found throughout Louisiana and Arkansas into Mexico. Mr. Dresser also mentions it as very common near San Antonio in the spring and autumn, arriving on the Medina the 27th of April.
Dr. Coues says that the Redstart near Washington is chiefly a spring and autumnal visitant, and but very few remain to breed. In the spring it is very abundant from April 25 to May 20, and in the fall from the 1st to the 20th of September, in all woody and swampy situations. He found it in the habit of running along slender twigs, sideways, and having a note very similar to that of D. œstiva.
Although placed among the Oscines, where, as an excellent singer, it clearly has a good right to be classed, it is yet also a true Flycatcher in habits and manners. It is a lively, active bird, ever on the wing, and continually in pursuit of insects. In this pursuit it never awaits the approach of its prey, but, espying them at a distance, darts with great velocity in pursuit, and the continued clicks of its bill attest the rapidity and frequency with which it will overtake and catch insect after insect. Even when lamenting the loss of a part of its brood, and flying around with cries of distress, the sight of passing insects is a temptation not to be resisted, and the parent bird will stop her lamentations to catch small flies.
Its notes are a varied twitter, rather than a song, a repetition of two simple notes, uttered every few seconds as it seeks its prey, flying among the thick foliage usually in dense groves. Its common habit is to glide along a branch, between its smaller twigs, at times darting forth into more open spaces in quest of insects it has espied.
Their nests are usually, though not always, built in a low branch, eight or ten feet from the ground, in the midst of a thick grove. I have known it to build in an open field and in close proximity to a dwelling. It keeps to groves and thickets, and frequents moist places rather than dry, evidently because of the greater abundance of insects, and not because of timid or retiring habits. It is indeed far from being timid, and will permit a near approach without any exhibitions of uneasiness. When its nest is visited, the male bird manifests great disturbance, and flies back and forth around the head of the intruder with cries of distress. The female is far less demonstrative, and even when her nest is despoiled before her eyes is quite moderate in the expression of her grief.
Its flight is graceful, easy, and rapid, varied by circumstances as it glides in its intricate course among small interlacing branches, or darts rapidly forth into more open space. As it moves, it is continually opening out, closing, or flirting from side to side its conspicuous tail, the white spots in its expanded feathers constantly appearing and disappearing.
In the construction of the nest there is a general uniformity of character, although the materials differ and the localities are far apart. They are never pendent, but are placed among three or more small upright branches, around which it is firmly woven with vegetable flax-like fibres. A nest obtained in Lynn, by Mr. George O. Welch (S. I. 3,778), in June, measures two inches in height by three in diameter. It is a small, compact, and homogeneous nest, composed almost entirely of shreds of savin-bark intermixed with soft vegetable wool. Within are loosely intertwined minute vegetable fibres and strips of bark, and a lining of horsehair, fine pine leaves, and dry grasses. The nest contained four eggs. Another nest found in Grand Menan, June 24, 1851, was very similar in size, structure, and materials. It was in the centre of a thick, swampy thicket, five feet from the ground, and contained five eggs.
Another nest of this bird, obtained in Lynn by Mr. Welch, is only a reconstruction of a nest begun by a pair of Dendroica œstiva, and either abandoned by them, or from which they had been driven. Above the original nest of the Warbler the Redstarts had constructed their own. The base is composed of the downy covering of the under sides of the leaves of ferns, mixed with a few herbaceous stems and leaves. Within this was built an entirely distinct nest, composed of long and slender strips of bark, pine-needles, and stems of grasses. These are firmly and elaborately interwoven together.
A nest found in Hingham, built in a tree in an open space near a dwelling, was seven feet from the ground, and of the usual size and shape. In this the more usual strips of bark were replaced by hempen fibres of vegetables, thistle-down, bits of newspaper, and other fragments. Within is a strong lining of hair and fine stems of grasses. In this nest there were two young, about half fledged, and two eggs nearly fresh. The latter were taken, the female parent being present and making only a very slight protest, stopping, from time to time, to catch insects.
The eggs of the Redstart vary considerably in their size and in their general appearance, but resemble somewhat those of the common Summer Yellow-Bird. They vary in length from .55 to .68 of an inch, and in their breadth from .45 to .53. Their ground-color is a grayish-white, blotched and clotted with purple, lilac, and brown.