212 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Breeding range (1949). — In North America the starling breeds 

 north to southern Alberta (Brooks) ; southern Manitoba (Norway 

 House and Steeprock) ; central Ontario (Port Arthur, Kapuskasing, 

 Lake Nipissing, and Ottawa) ; southern Quebec (Blue Sea Lake, Que- 

 bec, Eiviere-du-Loup, and Natashquan) . East to eastern Quebec (Na- 

 tashquan) ; Newfoundland (Tompkins and St. John's) ; the Atlantic 

 coast south to northern Florida (Jacksonville). South to northern 

 Florida (Jacksonville and Pensacola) ; central Mississippi (State Col- 

 lege) ; northwestern Arkansas (Rogers) ; southeastern Kansas (Clear- 

 water) ; and central Mississippi (State College) ; southern Louisiana 

 (New Orleans, 1949) ; etc. West to eastern Kansas (Clearwater and 

 Newton) ; eastern Colorado (Denver) ; eastern and northern North 

 Dakota (Fairmont, Lower Souris Wildlife Refuge, and Des Lacs Wild- 

 life Refuge) ; and southern Alberta (Brooks). 



The northernmost records of occurrence are: Alberta (Belvedere, 

 1940) ; Manitoba (Churchill, 1940, and York Factory, 1934) ; Ontario 

 (Fort Albany, 1940, and Moose Factory, 1931). 



Winter range. — During the winter the starling is found over much 

 of its breeding range, though in somewhat less numbers in the north, 

 and south to the Gulf coast, west at least to central Texas. Many of 

 the occurrences farther west have also been in winter. 



Egg dates. — Massachusetts : Early April to July. New Jersey : 12 

 records, April 10 to May 16. Utah : 7 records, April 9 to May 7. 



History of its spread. — After many attempts to introduce the star- 

 ling into North America it was "successfully" introduced in Central 

 Park, New York, in 1890 and 1891, and for six years was confined to 

 the limits of greater New York. After that the increasingly rapid 

 spread began which in little over a half century took it to the Pacific 

 coast. A study of the chronology of this spread shows that it was 

 not a steady progi*ession but somewhat spasmodic ; a big expansion in 

 one year followed bv several years while the territory gained was filled 

 in and little new occupied. How much transportation has helped in 

 this spread is problematical, but some long jumps have suggested that 

 birds may have been "stowaways." 



By 1912 starlings were breeding from eastern Massachusetts to 

 eastern Pennsylvania and winter flocks had reached Washington, D. C. 

 They continued to move southward in winter until northern Florida 

 (Amelia Island) was reached by individuals in 1918, by which time 

 breeding birds had reached southern Maine. The first specimen from 

 west of the Allegheny Mountains was collected in 1916 at West La- 

 fayette, Ohio; Canada was reached in 1919 at Brockville, Ontario; by 

 1925 they were breeding at Ottawa, and individuals had arrived in 

 Nova Scotia. The mountains having been crossed there was a notice- 

 able southwestward drift in winter. A flock reached southern Louisi- 



