February, 1922. 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



33 



common with the House Sparrow, they frequent 

 the city streets in order to feed on the undigested 

 grain in horse-droppings. The curtailment of 

 this food supply that followed the change from 

 horse-traffic to motor-traffic no doubt served to 

 check their increase as it has also reduced the 

 Sparrow population. 



They are gregarious to a marked degree and, 

 like the European Starling, show a preference for 

 certain roosts. Small bands forage in the city 

 streets and suburban districts during the day 

 and towards evening gather in large flocks to 

 spend the night under the eaves of certain public 

 buildings in the heart of the city. Their arrival 

 at these roosts is attended by much brawling, 

 jostling and discordant chattering. Neither their 

 manners nor their voices are commendable, al- 

 though the latter are modified to some extent by 

 a mellow whistling note of a rather pleasing 

 quality. Of these roosts the most important is 

 situated at the corner of Cordova and Carroll 

 Streets, where several buildings provide shelter 

 for a large proportion of the urban population. 

 Other roosts, scattered through the suburbs and 

 the adjacent rural districts, contain a relatively 

 small number of birds. Marpole, conveniently 

 near the fertile farms of Sea Island, is well stocked 

 and New Westminster at present is the farthest 

 outpost of colonization. 



From an aesthetic standpoint, the Japanese 

 Starlings have little to recommend them. Their 

 economic status has still to be determined and, as 

 they are aliens adjusting their habits to an un- 

 familiar environment, any remarks in this connec- 

 tion can only be tentative and subject to future 

 revision. They have their advocates as well as 

 their accusers and for the present they must be 

 kept under surveillance. 



The accusations brought against this species 

 are in reference to habits that are also ascribed to 

 the European Starling. Like the last-named 

 and that other quite undesirable alien, the House 

 Sparrow, they are said to oust some species of 

 our native birds from their long established nest- 

 ing sites, forcibly evicting the rightful tenants. 

 One observer complained that a Japanese Starling 



had removed fledgling Blue-birds from their nest 

 with his bill and dropped them to the ground. 

 At Marpole, I noticed several Starling nests in old 

 Flickers' holes that ordinarily would have been 

 occupied by Tree Swallows or Blue-birds. It is 

 also stated that they are destructive of small 

 fruits in the rural districts. 



On the other side of the ledger, their defenders 

 claim that tent caterpillars are eaten to a great 

 extent and if this is so, it would be a palliation of 

 their objectionable qualities. In this connection, 

 however, it is well to remember what claims were 

 made for the House Sparrow in the early days of 

 its history in America as a check on injurious 

 caterpillars. In the analysis of 10 Starling 

 stomachs taken during the month of June, when 

 the tent caterpillar plague was at its height, there 

 was no evidence that any of these had been eaten. 

 This, of course, is not proof that they are not 

 eaten, and a much larger amount of stomach 

 material would have to be examined before a 

 conclusion could be reached. In all the stomachs 

 examined, vegetable matter was present in excess 

 of animal matter. The former included un- 

 identified fruit pulp, raspberry and ser\Tce berry 

 seeds, oat husks and leaf fragments, while the 

 latter consisted of the remains of spiders and 

 insects of several orders. Among these were 

 house flies, a larva of a large coleoptera and adults 

 of smaller species, an orthopterous insect in the 

 nymph stage and one millepede. 



The importation of foreign species of birds 

 serves no useful purpose and may result in dis- 

 astrous consequences to our native birds. There 

 have been several attempts to introduce European 

 song birds into British Columbia, chiefly for 

 sentimental reasons, but in part fostered by the 

 erroneous belief that native bird-life is scarce. 

 Bird-lovers in British Columbia may take comfort 

 from the fact that over one hundred and thirty 

 insectivorous and weed-destro>ing birds are 

 found within the boundaries of the Province. 

 Fortunately, The Migratory Birds Convention 

 Act prohibits the introduction of any species of 

 Migratory Birds without written authority and 

 such activities will be under control in the future. 



THE DUCK HAWK 



By E. Beaupre, Kingston, Ont, 



During the years that I have been interested 

 in birds, I have had under observation two pairs 

 of Duck Hawks, Falco peregrinus artatum. One 

 pair occupied the ledge of a granite cliff overlook- 

 ing a small lake in one of the most picturesque 

 parts of the lake section of Leeds County, Ontario. 



From the most careful and persistent investigation 

 I was able to trace the habitation of this particular 

 pair for a full half century. Through visiting 

 this lake section at different times, I was able, 

 with the assistance of a settler, to secure many 

 interesting facts concerning the home life of these 



