STARLING 209 



haps by one Starling; an accumulation of audible evidence to con- 

 vince the stubbornest juror." 



Starlings sing in fall as well as in spring, and sometimes sing in 

 their winter roosts at night. According to Albert R. Brand (1938), 

 the pitch of the starlings voice is somewhat below the average of 

 passerine bird song; the highest note has about 8,225, the lowest about 

 1,100, and the approximate mean about 3,475 vibrations per second; 

 the average for passerine birds is above 4,000 vibrations per second, 

 or around the highest note of the piano keyboard. 



Field marks. — Among a crowd of other black birds the starling 

 can be distinguished by its trim, compact figure, its short tail, and its 

 long bill. In breeding plumage its glossy, sleek breast and head show 

 greenish and purplish reflections, and its bill is bright yellow. In 

 fall its body plumage is covered Avith conspicuous whitish and buffy 

 dots. The young bird, during its first summer, is colored much like 

 a young cowbird, but its long bill will distinguish it. It can be recog- 

 nized in flight by its sharply pointed wings, its widely spread and 

 short tail, and by its manner of flight, as described above. After one 

 has learned to know it, he should be able to recognize it almost as far 

 as it can be seen. 



Eiiemies. — Cats sometimes catch young starlings and perhaps an 

 adult occasionally. Almost all the swift-flying hawks have been re- 

 corded as preying upon them at times, particularly the duck hawk, 

 Cooper's hawk, and the sharp-shinned. Hicks and Dambach (1935) 

 write : 



During the flight manoeuvres several Cooper's hawks and one sharp-shinned 

 hawk were observed repeatedly preying upon the starlings. On one occasion a 

 Cooper's hawk flew swiftly to the centre of a giant oak tree, making a kill and 

 scattering, as if by explosion, tlie 2,000 starlings perched on the branches. Two 

 screech owls and a barn owl were known to visit the roost, as were also a fox, 

 several opossums, and many weasels. The gregariousness of the starlings made 

 them easy prey; but, because of the small numbers of predators, such losses 

 were negligible. 



That starlings recognize hawks as enemies is shown by their peculiar 

 method of mass attack. When a hawk appears near a large flock of 

 starlings, these birds gather into a dense formation and pursue the 

 hawk, sometimes enveloping the confused predator in a great rolling 

 cloud of black birds. This generally results in the ignominious retreat 

 of the bewildered hawk before the overwhehning numbers of its 

 pursuers. A somewhat similar performance is described in the follow- 

 ing note from Francis H. Allen : "One October day I saw a red-shoul- 

 dered hav^k sitting in the dead top of a tree when some starlings flew 

 into the tree. The hawk flew off and a flock of perhaps 25 or 50 soon 

 gathered and followed him about in the air, occasionally one or two 

 swooping at him, but most of the time the flock simply keeping above 

 him wherever he went. The flock became augmented for a time, but 



