STARLING 195 



notorious wliite grubs, dung beetles, the injurious Japanese beetle, 

 rove beetles, leaf beetles, click beetles, darkling beetles, and the famous 

 potato beetle. 



Orthoptera, among which the shorthorned grasshoppers (Acrididae) and crick- 

 ets (Gryllidae) predominated, constituted 12.41 per cent of the annual food of the 

 adult starlings examined. * * * A conservative estimate of the annual loss 

 in this country due to the grasshoppers is $50,000,000. This would be much 

 greater were it not for the controlling influence of insectivorous birds. Some of 

 these, among which may be placed the starling, secure practically all of their 

 insect food during September and October from this source, stopping thereby the 

 depredations of millions of these insects and preventing the future development 

 of countless millions more. * * * When hay fields are being cut and raked 

 in the latter part of August and early September, flocks of juvenile starlings 

 secure practically all their sustenance from these insects, supplemented with wild 

 black cherries (PrwnMS seroium) and elderberries (/S'am&MCMS canadensis). * * * 



Of the 2,301 stomachs of adult starlings examined, 538 contained the remains 

 of caterpillars ; 20 contained pupae ; and 30, adult Lepidoptera. 



In one bird's stomach "were the remains of no less than 40 cater- 

 pillars, which formed 98 percent of the food." The starling has dis- 

 tinguished itself as a most effective enemy of that notorious pest, the 

 cutworm ; it has been observed doing exceptionally good work on the 

 army worm ; and has been seen feeding on the larvae of the cabbage 

 butterfly. Only a few tent caterpillars and other hairy species have 

 been found in its food. "One reason for not finding more spiny or 

 hairy caterpillars may be explained by an incident observed at Nor- 

 walk. Conn., where a starling was seen to eat a tent caterpillar much 

 after the fashion of the Baltimore oriole, by forcing out the soft parts 

 and leaving the hairy skin hanging on the limb." 



Among other insects eaten they mention Hymenoptera, mostly ants 

 and a few ichneumons and bees, Hemiptera, and Diptera in small 

 quantities. And the remainder of the animal food consists of milli- 

 peds, spiders, land snails, earthworms, sowbugs, and remains of animal 

 garbage; fragments of a crab, a few beach fleas, and the bones of a 

 salamander were also found. 



The vegetable food consists of cultivated and wild fruits and 

 berries, grain, and seeds. The most serious complaint against the 

 starling is its fondness for cherries. "In 1915, on a farm near Closter, 

 N. J., trees that should have produced $50 to $60 worth of cherries 

 yielded only $10 worth, a loss due largely to starlings. At Bristol, 

 Conn., a flock of about 300 starlings entirely stripped a single tree of its 

 1916 crop in less than 15 minutes. At Kowayton, Conn., six cherry 

 trees were entirely stripped of their fruit by robins and starlings in 

 1916." But in the 2,301 stomachs examined, only 169 contained culti- 

 vated cherries, forming 2.66 percent of the annual food, or a maximum 

 of 17.01 percent in June. "During the months of June and July, the 

 robins obtained 24.58 per cent and 22.71 percent, respectively, of their 

 food from cultivated cherries, quantities half again as great as those 



