22 



starling does not destroy many of the useful parasitic flies of 

 this order. 



The nestlings were fed with food similar to that taken by the 

 adults, but they were given a larger proportion of young, or 

 larvae, such as caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects, while 

 the adults fed more on mature beetles and similar hard-bodied 

 insects. 



The vegetable food consisted very largely of fruit. The birds 

 w^ere taken during the cherry season, and IS stomachs contained 

 an average of 56.17 per cent of the skin, pulp and stones of 

 cultivated cherries. In 7 cases the skin or pulp of fruit, which 

 could not be fully identified, composed 31.71 per cent of the 

 stomach contents; mulberry seed and pulp in 9 cases composed 

 35 per cent of the stomach contents, and grape pulp composed 

 the greater part of the stomach contents in 1 case. This grape 

 pulp must have been secured from greenhouse fruit. Possibly 

 an investigation of the stomachs of starlings during the grape 

 season would reveal a much larger percentage of this fruit. 

 Only a few nestlings had eaten fruit. A few stomachs con- 

 tained fragments of grasses, which may have been taken acci- 

 dentally in procuring insect food. Portions of vegetable stems 

 also were found. A few seeds of Polygonum, Rhus radicans 

 and other plants suggest that later in the season seeds and 

 wild fruits may form a larger proportion of the food of the 

 starling. 



Among the miscellaneous substances found was a portion of 

 some small crustacean and a bit of shell. Fifteen stomachs 

 were empty and 3 nearly empty. Some of these starlings were 

 taken on the roost at night, at or before 8 o'clock, and as 

 the birds were feeding until about 7 o'clock, and as they usually 

 go to roost with a full stomach, it is fair to assume that the 

 digestion of the starling is rapid enough to empty its stomach 

 within an hour. 



Conclusion. 



The starling is hardly numerous enough yet in Massachusetts 

 to do much injury to fruit crops, vegetation or native birds. 

 Thus far it is mainly beneficial here, as it does some good 

 by destroying noxious insects. Under our laws it is now 

 (January, 1916) protected at all times, but if its numbers 



