2i8 Bird -Lore 



hours from their play to construct elaborate bird-houses, containing windows, Ionic 

 columns, doors, porches, complicated roofs, etc., must really love the winged creatures 

 and prefer to protect them with houses rather than kill them with bean-shooters. 

 When one considers that not one minute of assigned school time was expended in their 

 construction, it is truly wonderful. The boys manufactured them at home, with their 

 own tools and with their own material. Here is a potential energy for bird-protection 

 as inspiring as Niagara. 



If in after life the boys not only of this school, but of all schools, will persist in pro- 

 tecting the wild birds, and if the girls will refuse to wear the feathers of slaughtered 

 birds, protection for our little friends is assured. Very truly yours, 



C. Arthur Borkland 



Public School No. 5, Bronx, 

 2436 Webster Avenue, New York. 



FROM YOUNG OBSERVERS 



Winter Notes on the Starling 



On a clear day at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, large flocks of Star- 

 lings, ranging from one to four hundred, are seen and heard on a hill about 

 half a mile from the shore. There are many old apple orchards near, and they 

 gather to eat the rotten apples and drink water from a nearby pond. About 

 four o'clock they are seen flying south to their roosts in some spruce trees. 

 Another favorite place is a high piece of ground overlooking the village of 

 Huntington. They gather here in flocks of twenty or thirty, and sometimes 



two or three hundred. They are often seen and heard singing here. Janet 



Davenport (Age, 13 years.) 



P. S. — I don't know much about the Starlings and cannot find out anything about 

 them in text-books. I have heard they eat fruit-buds, and if you would please tell me 

 if this is true, I would be much obliged. — J. D. 



[This is the kind of information which it is desirable to keep with reference to the 

 habits and food of the Starling in this country. Compare with notes given below. 

 Can any reader of Bird-Lore answer the inquiry about fruit-buds? — A. H. W.] 



In an English publication, "Ornithology in Relation to Agriculture and 

 Horticulture," the following table on the food of the Starling is quoted. 

 This table was compiled by M. Prevost and published in the Zoologist of 1863. 



Jan. — Worms, grubs of cockchafer and grubs in dung. 



Feb. — Grubs, snails and slugs. 



Mar. — Grubs of cockchafer and snails. 



Apr. — Grubs of cockchafer and snails. 



May — Grubs of cockchafer, snails and grasshoppers. 



June — Flies and grubs of various flies. 



July — Grubs, and fresh- water shell-fish. 



Aug. — Flies, glow-worms and beetles. 



Sept. — Green locusts, grubs of carrion beetles and worms. 



Oct. — Worms and beetles. 



