STARLING 211 



the starlings followed. The grackles seem to be the first to appear at 

 the more southern roosts, to be joined later by increasing numbers of 

 starlings, until the latter far outnumber the other black birds. This 

 indicates that the greater part of the starlings start on their migration 

 later in the season than the others but eventually catch up with them 

 on account of their increased speed. 



Winter. — Although enormous numbers of starlings follow the black- 

 birds southward, large numbers spend the winter as far north as 

 southern Canada and New England. For example, P. A. Taverner 

 (1934) reports Jack Miner's experience with it at Kingsville, Ontario : 

 "There the Starlings found winter roost in his planted pine grove, 

 resorting to it in such numbers as, by their dropping, to smother the 

 foliage, over-fertilize the ground, and finally to kill all the trees in the 

 plantation. This in spite of an active campaign against them in which 

 truck loads of the birds were trapped and shipped to the cities to assist 

 in feeding the needy." 



Severe winter storms and extremely low temperatures often result 

 in great mortality in the more northern roosts. Odum and Pitelka 

 (1939) report such a disaster at Urbana, 111., in February 1939. The 

 roost was estimated to contain 25,000 birds, starlings, cowbirds, 

 grackles, and redwings, over 95 percent of which were starlings. A 

 heavy rainstorm, accompanied by a wind velocity of 48 miles an hour, 

 which blew down a number of trees, was followed by a sudden drop in 

 temperature to below freezing. This resulted in the death of about 4 

 percent of the birds in the roost, among which 570 starlings were 

 actually counted, and perhaps as many as 1,000 may have perished. 



Forbush (1927) mentions a report from Carl E. Grant that "after 

 the severe weather of January, 1925, he found in an area of less than an 

 acre in a pine grove near Wenham Lake about 500 dead Starlings and 

 innumerable parts of others, which had been partly eaten. He counted 

 22 dead Starlings in a space less than two feet square where, appar- 

 ently, they had crowded together for warmth." 



Records from various sources indicate that approximately 70 per- 

 cent of these birds that winter in the north are males. The others go 

 south and so overcrowd the southern resorts that the robins, cedar 

 waxwings, and other berry-eating birds are hard pressed to find sujfi- 

 cient food. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — The starling is a native of Europe, where it breeds from 

 the British Isles, northern Norway, and Russia south to southern Rus- 

 sia, northern Italy, and southern France ; during the winter it is found 

 somewhat farther south in the Mediterranean region. Since its intro- 

 duction in North America in 1890 it has spread throughout the United 

 States, southern Canada, and to northern Tamaulipas, Mexico. 



