202 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The Starlings in the first of the towers visited, which is an old one, occupied 

 various ledges and nooks in the wall as the cross braces. At a certain level 

 there was a series of box-like cavities in the wall construction, each about two 

 feet wide, three feet deep, and six inches high. These were filled with Starlings 

 for their entire depth with scarcely room for another, and, despite an outdoor 

 temperature of well below freezing, I am confident a thermometer placed among 

 the birds would have registered close to that of their own bodies. We ourselves 

 were able to keep perfectly comfortable, even though working bare-handed on 

 cold nights, by frequently delving arms' length into one of these cavities to 

 drag forth a double handful of Starlings. This habit of dense crowding is quite 

 different from that displayed by Starlings when roosting in trees or on the 

 exterior of some buildings where there is ample room. In such locations the 

 birds appear to resent close association and aim to keep between each other 

 a space equal to the width of a bird. 



The starlings also roosted in such numbers on the outside of the old 

 Land Office Building and the Patent Office that men had to be hired 

 to drive them away. "On the 9th of February 1931, a crew of eight 

 men, four to each building, started a crusade against the roosting birds. 

 Cat-o-nine tail whips of short poles with several strands of flexible 

 wire attached were used to lash the ledges beneath the eaves. The men 

 operated from the roof of the building." 



This was carried on for four nights in succession, and "since then, 

 these two buildings, which together harbored probably in excess of 

 6,000 birds, have been free of Starlings." 



In a nearby community in Virginia, "a mixed flock of English 

 Sparrows and Starlings roosted, to the great distress of the owner of 

 the property, in ivy covering the brick walls of a large and stately 

 dwelling. A plea for some relief led to an experiment in the use 

 of calcium cyanide dust as a f umigant." 



After several repetitions of this treatment the birds left and never 

 returned. Various other methods have been employed, more or less 

 successfully, to prevent or break up starling roosts ; where the birds 

 roost on outside ledges of buildings, these could be screened or slanting 

 boards be placed on them, or the birds could be driven away by shoot- 

 ing at them with slingshots or air rifles; shooting with shotguns is 

 most efl^ective, but in many places it is objectionable or illegal ; shoot- 

 ing Roman candles into roosting trees is sometimes effective and not 

 objectionable; the use of the city fire hose will drive them out; but 

 all these devices must be followed up persistently to be successful. 

 "VVliere starlings roost inside buildings, they can be killed with poison- 

 ous gases, but these are dangerous and should be used only by an 

 expert; and they can be eradicated by frequently disturbing their 

 slumbers. For a full discussion of this subject, the reader is referred 

 to a mimeographed circular by Mr. Kalmbach ( 1937) . 



In its relation to other species the starling is not above criticism. 

 It has been severely condemned on two counts, competition with vari- 

 ous native species for nesting sites and consumption of too much of the 



