STARLING 213 



ana (near Baton Rouge) in December 1921, and by 1926 many small 

 flocks were present in winter. By this time the breeding range had 

 been extended to western Ohio and northern Georgia. Many of the 

 first winter records were of starlings found in blackbird roosts. By 

 1928 the breeding range was approximately to the Mississippi River 

 from southern Wisconsin to Tennessee. The extension of the breeding 

 range into the Southeastern States has been slow. Many birds are 

 present in winter. No evidence of nesting in Florida was reported 

 until 1932 (Pensacola) and 1937 (Jacksonville). 



The next 10 years saw marked progi'ess westward in the North- 

 ern States. In 1938 starlings bred in northwestern North Dakota 

 (Des Lacs Wildlife Refuge), western Minnesota (Madison), eastern 

 Nebraska (Uehling), and northwestern Arkansas (Rogers). Young 

 birds banded that summer at Des Lacs Refuge furnished in the fol- 

 lowing winter the first records for Montana (Lindsay) and Saskatche- 

 wan (Tyvan). 



Meantime the advance to the southwestward also had been rapid. 

 The first record for Texas was a bird found dead at Cove in 1925, 

 but by 1932 others had reached the eastern edge of the plains in this 

 State and in Oklahoma. In November 1939 it reached the Rio Grande 

 at El Paso and Albuquerque, N. Mex. ; and crossed the river into Mexico 

 where a flock of 25 was seen 9 kilometers south of Nuevo Laredo, 

 Tamaulipas. An individual spent the winter of 1938-39 in Colorado, 

 10 miles south of Monte Vista. In 1937 starlings followed the Platte 

 River into Wyoming as far west as Parco, and the following year 

 were found near Denver, Colo. They may have bred in Colorado in 

 1942, but the first positive record was made at Lowry Field, near Den- 

 ver, in May 1943. 



To date (May 1949) no breeding has been recorded from west of 

 the Rocky Mountains although there are records of occurrence from 

 every State. The Alleghenies were crossed in 1916, and 25 years later 

 the Rockies were crossed, starlings have been observed in 1941 at 

 Jackson, Wyo., and Corvallis, Mont. From there (apparently) they 

 reached Moscow, Idaho, and Lake Malheur, Oreg., in 1943 and Pull- 

 man, Wash., in 1945. Portland, Oreg., was reached from the east 

 in 1947. In 1889, 20 pairs had been released there and the species 

 persisted until about 1901. 



California was entered from both north and south. In January 

 1942 a specimen was collected from a flock of about 40 near Tulelake, 

 Siskiyou County; and in December 1946 one was taken at Chino, 

 San Bernardino County, the species having crossed Arizona that year. 

 In January 1947 a flock of eight wandered up to the Okanagan Valley 

 to Oliver, British Columbia, thus completing the roll call of the 

 United States and Provinces of Canada. 



