244 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris) 



The successful introduction of this European bird will 

 probably prove even more regrettable than that of the House 

 Sparrow. Equally aggressive, and much larger and stronger, 

 it undoubtedly drives away many of the smaller species, 

 which prefer some familiarity with man. At present it is 

 common or abundant throughout this region, nesting even 

 in the most remote rural districts of northwestern New Jersey. 

 In the fall and winter great flocks are often seen, and there is 

 considerable evidence to show that the bird is becoming 

 migratory. The first birds were released in 1890. First 

 noted in the Bronx, January, 1899 (Dwight), at Englewood 

 March, 1898 (Isabel McC. Lemmon), at Gardiner's Island, 

 Long Island, December, 1908 (Roy Latham), at Montclair, 

 New Jersey, October, 1904 (Howland). 



BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) 



This distinguished songster was formerly a common 

 summer resident throughout our territory, but is now found 

 only in the outlying and more rural districts. Its great 

 decrease started fifty years ago when trapping the males 

 for cage-bird purposes was a profession on a large scale. 

 The growth of the City and the rapid development of the 

 suburbs were also factors with which the Bobolink could 

 not or would not compete. The so-called " sport" of Reed- 

 bird shooting in the fall was also a contributing cause, though 

 it does not seem to have been practiced so extensively here as 

 further south. At the present time the bird is a rare transient 

 in the spring in places where it does not breed. The great 

 flocks of migrating males, singing in chorus as they sweep 

 northward break up before they reach this latitude, and I have 

 only once seen and heard this phenomenon locally. In the fall, 

 however, unnumbered multitudes pass overhead, and the 

 mellow chink can be heard from the sky every night during 

 August and early September. With rare exceptions these 



