As no dampness is to be dried, laying follows closely upon the completion of the nest, and continues for a period of five clays, one egg being laid daily. They are usually of a sky-blue color, spotless, and have an actual measurement of .82 by .61 inches. Mr. Ingersoll once found in Loraine County, Ohio, a nest of five eggs, all of which were pure lustrous white, like those of a Woodpecker. Similar instances have come to our knowledge since the above was recorded. In the work of incubation, the male occasionally relieves his partner, but when not thus engaged, lie is very attentive, and often cheers the monotony of her task by a soft, agreeable warble. He is also now very jealous. Not a bird is permitted to trespass upon his premises. If surprised upon the nest, the female makes no effort to escape as long as untouched; but waits until you have withdrawn to a safe distance before flying from the hole. When hatched, the young are watched over with the greatest care, and fed alternately by each parent. Their food consists of flies, earthworms, young of beetles, moths, butterflies, etc. When able to shift for themselves, they are entrusted to the care of the male, while the female busies herself in preparing for the second brood. The old nest is renovated and refurnished, and she again sits, depending upon her affectionate and trustful mate for the support of both herself and the brood which, as it sometimes happens, are not fairly out of the way when the second family of young are ushered into existence. As many as three broods are occasionally raised, when the season has been long and favorable.
Young males of the year are easily distinguished. They are dull brown on the head and back, and have the lesser coverts streaked with white. The throat and fore part of the breast are marked with similar stripes, while the rest of the coloration, with the exception of the brownish edges of the tertial wing-feathers, is somewhat similar to that of the adult. The entire upper parts, including tail and wings, of the latter, are of a continuous and azure-blue color. The cheeks are of the same hue, but duller. The under parts, the abdomen, anal region (and under tail-coverts, which are white, excluded), are reddish-brown. The bill and feet are black, and the same may be said of the shafts of the quills and tail-feathers. From her partner, the female differs in being less blue, and in having a brownish cast upon the head and back. In size, they hardly vary. Their length is six and three-fourths inches, wing four, tail two and nine-tenths.
[Original Size]
Plate XXXII.—SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA, (Link.) Swainson.—American Redstart
In the habit of capturing insects upon the wing, the sylvicoline subfamily of birds to which the Redstart belongs, resembles very closely the smaller Flycatchers, but it differs in being less sedentary. When in pursuit of food, it is constantly on the move, in and out among the branches and foliage, seldom, if ever, waiting for some apparently witless insect to manifest itself as our Pewees do. The strictly oscine character of the tarsal scutellæ or plates, and the existence of nine primary wing-feathers, are sufficient to distinguish them from the latter, notwithstanding the orange or yellow crown of some of its members. These birds—the Setophagmae of naturalists—have their greatest development in tropical America, where no less than nine genera and sub-genera are known to exist. Only two of them extend into the United States, and of the genus of Redstarts, we have but one of the many that have been described. This species, to which allusion has just been made, has an extended distribution, but chiefly in Eastern North America. It has been found from the Atlantic westward to Utah, and from Florida to Fort Simpson in British America. Throughout the river bottoms of the Missouri, according to various observers, it is one of the most abundant of summer occupants, and is also to be found quite frequently as a breeder in the foot-hills west of Denver. Mr. Allen, who is our authority for this statement, believes it to be sparingly represented in this region wherever woodlands exist. In the mountains it was not observed beyond the limit of 8000 feet.
The time of its arrival is usually about the first of May, never later in the latitude of Philadelphia than the 8th, and occasionally as early as the 20th of April in certain seasons; in New England from the first to the 10th of May, but not before the last of this month in the moss-clad willows of the marshes that skirt the far Saskatchewan. The red lining of its wings as it flits through the sombre foliage of the trees in pursuit of insects renders it an object of attraction, and one to be easily recognized. Were this mark of identification wanting, its crisp, lovely notes would tell the tale of its presence, and lead the pursuer at once to its whereabouts.
The song of the Redstart resembles very closely that of the Black and White Creeper, but differs in being less prolonged, and in its quicker, sharper intonation. It may be very appropriately represented by the syllables tsi-tsi-tsiwe, the last ending rather abruptly. Its ordinary call is a simple tsich, which is heard at long and irregular intervals. Singular to say, these sounds are most frequent when the bird is most active, and not while in the enjoyment of the quietude which follows such a life. At such times our hitherto energetic friend maintains the utmost silence. Being an extremely early riser, it is in the cool, calm hours of the morning, ere all Nature is astir, that he regales the listening spirits of the groves with his sweetest music. About four o'clock he awakes from his slumber, arranges his toilet with care, and with a happy heart starts out to breakfast. But few of his neighbors are up, and for a while he has everything his own way. For nearly five hours he is a busy gleaner. Fastidious in appetite, he does not accept whatever he meets with, but prefers his viands to be of the very best that the great market of the world possesses. While beetles are devoured when other articles are not convenient, there is manifestly a strong predilection for the juicier fly and moth, or the honey-bearing aphis.