. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . e foregoing Warblers, it forageshabitually from the ground and low underbrush to the verytops of the tallest trees. It is also a very active and expertflycatcher. Its bill is broadened at the base and its mouth issurrounded with bristles, like those of the Flycatchers andsome other families that take their prey mostly upon thewing. The Redstart is almost constantly in nervou
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . e foregoing Warblers, it forageshabitually from the ground and low underbrush to the verytops of the tallest trees. It is also a very active and expertflycatcher. Its bill is broadened at the base and its mouth issurrounded with bristles, like those of the Flycatchers andsome other families that take their prey mostly upon thewing. The Redstart is almost constantly in nervous motion,darting and fluttering from twig to twig in pursuit of itselusive prey. In all its movements its wings are held inreadiness for instant flight, and in its sinuous twistings andturnings, risings and fallings, its colors expand, contract, andglow amid the sylvan shades like a dancing torch in the SONQ BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 197 hands of a madman. Chapman tells us that in Cuba mostof our wood Warblers are known smiply as raariposas(butterflies), but the Redstarts flaming plumage has wonfor it the name of candelita, the little torch, that flashesin the gloomy depths of the tropical forest. He gives the. Fig. 66. —American Redstart. Lower figure, male; upper figure, natural size. song as cJiiiiff, ching, chee, ser-wee, swee, swee-e-e, and thisis a good description of its general character. The songvaries, however, like that of other Warblers, but is usuallymore cheerful than musical. The alarm note of the Redstartis a sharp chirp. The insect food of the Redstart is perhaps more variedthan that of any other common Warbler. Apparently thereare few forest insects of small size that do not, in some oftheir forms, fall a prey to this bird. Caterpillars that escapesome of the slower birds by spinning down from the branchesand hanging by their silken threads are snapped up in mid airby the Redstart. It takes its prey from trunk, limbs, twigs,leaves, and a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
