No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 209 



The Starling. 



The European starling is increasing rapidly. It has been 

 reported from several localities in eastern Massachusetts, is 

 scattered through the western counties and is said to have 

 occurred in southern Vermont and southern New Hamp- 

 shire. Next year we may expect to find it sparsely distrib- 

 uted over the greater part of this Commonwealth. Reports 

 from States where it is now numerous indicate that it will 

 be more detrimental to our own birds than the English 

 sparrow has proved to be. 



Mr. William H. Varney writes from Long Island, N. Y., 

 that the starlings destroy a great many insects and a certain 

 amount of fruit, ^particularly apples, but probably not more 

 than any other bird would take if equally abundant. 



Mr. W. S. Bogert, who was formerly a friend of the star- 

 lings, wrote me on Nov. 4, 1911, that they were seen in 

 large flocks in Leonia, N. J., all that spring and summer, 

 and that they certainly had driven the native birds away. 

 He says he does not remember a season when he has seen 

 so few birds around his place. He now believes the starling 

 should not be given protection. 



Miss Laura F. Craft of Glencove, Long Island, wrote on 

 Nov. 6, 1911, that the starlings had increased enormously 

 there and bade fair to become a dreadful pest. She stated 

 that in September and October they gathered in huge flocks 

 in a swamp near by and did much damage to apples and 

 corn in the neighborhood, " We have," she said, " quite a 

 large orchard and have to shoot frequently into the flock to 

 drive them away from the trees. In spite of that, many 

 dollars' worth of fine apples were pecked and ruined." Sim- 

 ilar complaints have been received from Massachusetts 

 farmers. 



Mr. E. G. Kent of East Orange, N. J., stated that a pair 

 of robins which had a neet in an elm near his house were 

 attacked by a starling and driven away. 



Miss Alice V. Winslow writes from Framingham that 

 starlings drove the flickers away from a nest in Swansea, 



