No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 179 



at that time. Some of the pheasants and European par- 

 tridges also reached Tenafly. 



Mr. Van Brunt Bergen of Brooklyn, N. Y., writes that 

 Mrs. Doubleday liberated several pairs of starlings at Bay 

 Ridge eight or ten years ago. They came from England. 

 But the introductions undertaken by Mr. Eugene Scheifflin 

 at Central Park, ISTew York City, are credited as the first to 

 be successful. The first of his importations numbered 80 

 birds, which were liberated on March 6, 1890, and 40 more 

 were released on April 25, 1891. Some of these birds re- 

 mained in the park or its vicinity, and bred there, but in 

 1891, 20 appeared on Staten Island, and in 1896 they had 

 increased their numbers and had extended to Brooklyn. In 

 1898, according to Dr. T. S. Palmer of the Biological Sur- 

 vey, the specie's had obtained a strong foothold in the neigh- 

 borhood of jSTew York City. It had reached Stamford, Conn., 

 and Plainfield, !N^. J. One hundred birds were liberated near 

 Springfield, Mass., in 1897, but Mr. Robert O. Morris of 

 Springfield states his belief that they did not survive the fol- 

 lowing winter. It may be possible that they went south, 

 but not one was reported from Springfield again until the 

 year 1908. In the meantime they had spread over the first 

 40 miles of Long Island, up the Hudson River to Ossining 

 and beyond, through much of eastern New Jersey and into 

 Pennsylvania and Delaware. 



In June, 1910, I was able, through the co-operation of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, to make an investigation of the distribution, 

 food and habits of the starling in America. Several trips 

 were made to Springfield, Mass. ; Connecticut ; Long Island, 

 N. Y, ; IN^ew Jersey and one to Pennsylvania. A large cor- 

 respondence was begun with people in all the States in which 

 the starling has been found. One hundred and two starlings 

 were collected^ and the contents of their stomachs were exam- 

 ined by Prof. F. E. L. Beal of the Biological Survey. On 

 this investigation the present report is based. 



It is important to compare what is known of the status 

 and habits of the starling in this country with its history 



