9 



into the City upon the Houses, and into the River, wounded and 

 slaughtered in hke Manner as before is reported: But at this last Battel 

 there was a Kite, a Raven and a Crow, all three found dead in the Streets 

 rent, torn and mangled. 



In this precedent Narration, one Report v/ill cause most admiration, 

 and that is, the Stares or Starlings, forbearing and absenting them- 

 selves from Cork, upon Sunday, being the 13th of October, should that 

 same Day be seen to fight near, or not far off from Woolwich; whether 

 the same Stares it may be held in respect of the Distance of the Place 

 by Sea and Land, improbable. But this Improbability is soon answered; 

 for as the Fight at Cork may seem strange and improbable, yet being 

 most assured that such a Battel was fought, it may be as probable, in 

 the Wonderful Works of Almighty God, that, notwithstanding the Distance 

 of the Place, these may be the same Stares. ^ 



The above extracts indicate that the starling has some unde- 

 sirable quahties; and as such qualities are often accentuated 

 when a bird is introduced into a new country, we cannot view 

 the introduction of the starling without some apprehension. 

 The fact that it is generally considered a desirable species in 

 northern Europe should not have convinced any one that it 

 would be so in America, and its introduction here ought never 

 to have been undertaken. When introduced into New Zealand 

 it became a very destructive pest, and no one can tell what may 

 be the result of its acclimatization here. Since the successful 

 introduction of the starling in America the Bureau of Bio- 

 logical Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 has been given authority to regulate the importation of foreign 

 mammals and birds into this country, and in the future there 

 is very little likelihood that the zeal of misguided persons who 

 wish to import foreign species will have such results as fol- 

 lowed the introduction of the house sparrow. The Biological 

 Survey now has agents in every port where foreign species are 

 likely to come in, all shipments are examined and if the bird 

 or mammal is considered dangerous it is destroyed; thus we 

 have been able to keep out the mongoose and several unde- 

 sirable birds. But the starling, introduced before these regu- 

 lations went into effect, has increased so fast and spread so far 

 that the question now to be considered is w'hether it is to prove 

 an undesirable addition to the fauna of the country, and, if so, 

 w^hether its increase can be controlled and regulated. 



'p. ' Morgan, J.: "Phcenix Britannicus," a miscellaneous collection of scarce and curious tracts, 

 No. l,.pp. 250-253, London, 1731. 



