REDSTART or FIRETAIL (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), a small bird which is a summer visitor to Europe, where it haunts gardens, orchards, and old buildings. Its habit of flirting its red tail, and the white forehead, black throat, and bay breast of the cock are distinguishing features ; the hen is more plainly coloured; but the characteristic colouring and action of the tail pertain to her equally as to her mate. The nest is almost always placed in a hole of a tree or building, and contains from five to seven eggs of a delicate greenish blue, occasionally sprinkled with faint red spots. The young on assuming their feathers present a great resemblance to those of the redbreast (q.v.) at the same age; but the red tail, though of duller hue than in the adult, forms even at this early age an easy means of distinguishing them. The red start breeds regularly in all the counties of England and Wales. It also reaches the extreme north of Scotland; but in Ireland it is very rare. It appears throughout the whole of Europe in summer, and is known to winter in the interior of Africa. Several very
nearly allied forms occur in Asia; and one, P. aurorea, is found in Japan.
The black redstart (P. ochrurus) is darker than the preceding, with a more southerly range. Like the last, however, it winters in Africa. It often haunts the vicinity of houses. The males of the black redstart seem to be more than one year in acquiring their full plumage.
Allied to the redstarts are the bluethroats (q.v.). These groups belong to the subfamily Turdinae of the thrushes. The American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) belongs to the purely New World family Mniotiltidae, and ranges from Canada (in summer) to Bolivia, but is rare on the Pacific coast. The salmon of the breast, wings, and tail of the male are replaced by yellow in the female. The painted redstart (S. pitta) has a deep red breast and belly. It inhabits the Mexican plateau, extending north to Arizona and New Mexico.