354 



Bird - Lore 



Are Starlings as Hardy as English 

 Sparrows ? 



There was a flock of Starlings about 

 Kingsbury Street during the season of 

 1916. They had probably been there some 

 time, and early in December were trying 

 to drive the English Sparrows from the 

 belfries of the churches and the school- 

 house. There is also another flock that 

 nests or roosts about Pattens Mills, 

 perhaps in the belfry of the church, three 

 or four miles west of Kingsbury Street. 



During the winter of 1916-17 — not a 

 severe winter here — Starlings would occa- 

 sionally come about the house and orchard 

 trees, and a flock of twenty-five birds came 

 the latter part of January for frozen apples. 

 They were rather shy and easily frightened 

 away. Dec. 28, 191 7, there was a flock of 

 thirty Starlings about, and, two days later, 

 two birds came. Nothing more was seen 

 of them until March 13, 1918, when two 

 birds came and remained about the orchard 

 trees for half an hour. 



The extremely cold wave of the winter 

 of 191 7-18 was from December 29 to 

 January 5, when the mercury went as low 

 as 40 degrees below zero in this vicinity, 

 and only a few hours during that interval 

 of time registered above zero. At the 

 village of Fort Ann, Miss Hattie T. Burn- 

 ham said several Starlings were found 

 perishing from the extreme temperature, 

 and although brought into the house near 

 a fire, the birds very soon died. I am 

 under the impression that many of the 

 Starlings in this region succumbed because 

 of the severe cold weather of the past 

 winter. This section is about 43. 5"" north 

 latitude, and I doubt very much if the 

 Starling can hold its own, thrive, and do 

 well at a much higher latitude, as the 

 English Sparrow most certainly does. 



The Starling is a more attractive bird 

 than the English Sparrow. Near Hudson 

 Falls, I have been told that the Starling 

 drives away and usurps the nesting- 

 places made by the Woodpeckers. At 

 Shushan, the southern part of Washington 

 County, Mr. Frank Dobbin writes me that 

 the Starlings, during January, 191 8, were 



seen feeding on the 'bobs' of the staghorn 

 sumac, and that a Starling had been seen 

 to pursue and kill an English Sparrow. 



The winter. of 1917-18 has been made 

 notable here by the presence of a Northern 

 Shrike or two, which occasionally would 

 come about the house and drive the Tree 

 Sparrows up from their 'hayseed' table 

 in the garden. — Stewart H. Burnham, 

 Hudson Falls, N. Y. 



Two Corrections 



The August issue of Bird-Lore contains 

 two errors for which the Editor is re- 

 sponsible: (i) the author of the article 

 entitled 'Spotted Sandpiper Colonies' is 

 Julian K. Potter, not J. W. Lippincott 

 as given. (2) H. E. Tuttle's Studies of 

 the Nesting Habits of the Nashville 

 Warbler were made at Simsbury, Conn., 

 not Lake Forest, 111., as stated. — Editor. 



House Sparrows Robbing Robins 



In the July-August number of Bird- 

 Lore is a note by C. Bonning, of Detroit, 

 Mich., telling of seeing a House Sparrow 

 steal an angleworm from a Robin — a 

 common sight this summer on the lawns 

 of this city. Not infrequently several 

 Sparrows, instead of one, gather about a 

 feeding Robin and accompany it as it 

 runs from place to place. While digging 

 operations are in progress, the 'bandits' 

 sit expectantly around, not far from the 

 Robin's head, watching for results and 

 ready to swoop in the moment the worm 

 appears. Sometimes the Robins are so 

 annoyed by the pestifero.us band that they 

 give up the quest and gt) hungry for the 

 time. It is strange that a bird as big as a 

 Robin has no more 'spunk.' Once in awhile 

 they will resist and a rough-and-tumble 

 fight will take place, but the Sparrow is 

 more than likely to come off victor, with 

 the booty in its bill. 



I have also seen the Robin systemati- 

 cally robbed by the Red-winged Black- 

 bird in exactly the same way ■^hen it was 

 digging the big white grubs of the cock- 

 chafer from an infested lawn. In this case 



