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Bird - Lore 



juring much shipping, raged by day and 

 night. At the end of the second day, the 

 stewardess came to my stateroom and said: 

 "A Stormy Petrel has just blown in. I hope 

 he is not dead for the sailors are so super- 

 stitious about those birds." 



I begged her to bring the bird to me. She 

 returned soon with the dear brown thing, 

 limp and bloody, perhaps from striking some 

 part of the steamer. We washed off the 

 blood and bathed it with some mild antisep- 

 tic. I asked forlwarm milk with a bit of wine, 

 and, opening its small bill, poured a few drops 

 down its throat and soon it began to move. 

 Fearing to frighten it, I made a nest out of 

 a woolen scarf, carefully laid the bird in it 

 and went out on deck for about an hour. 

 Returning I found my little patient had 

 opened his eyes. Covering his head so not to 

 alarm him, I opened his bill and gave him 

 more milk and wine. The next morning the 

 nest was empty for my little guest had hidden 

 away in the dark under my berth. 



It was a Wilson's Stormy Petrel, I after- 

 wards learned, with a band of white feathers 

 at the base of the tail and yellow webs con- 

 necting the claws. The bird was with me for 

 four days, eating from my hand but never 

 uttering a sound. With regret I released him 

 in the harbor of Jacksonville on our arrival. 

 He was apparently well, and skimmed over 

 the water, without turning to say good-bye 

 to his friends. — Elva Lougee, San Diego, 

 Calif. 



Seven Years of the Starling 



In 1915 the first Starling was seen at Water- 

 ford, Saratoga County, N. Y., 160 miles 

 north of New York City. For several years 

 only a few were seen, mostly breeding in 

 church towers. Today almost no Starlings 

 nest in the village, yet every available cavity 

 in the surrounding bottom-land is occupied 

 by them. In a bird-count of Waterford 

 Township, no pairs of breeding Starlings 

 were enumerated, making it ninth in the list 

 of the most common birds of this area — 6 

 square miles. 



As a nesting-site, it prefers Flicker holes, 

 especially those in telegraph poles along a 

 canal; next, it occupies the cavities in isolated 



dead trees, taking other holes only after 

 these two have been preempted. No nests in 

 buildings or in roofs have been found. The 

 nests in the poles have been used for two 

 broods in many cases — the first in early May 

 and the young of the second leaving the 

 middle of July. 



On June 19, 1922, about 500 immature 

 Starlings were roosting in a small, inland, 

 cattail marsh here; on June 24, the number 

 was 700; on July 6, 2,100 Starlings were 

 counted as they poured down into the roost; 

 on July 13, the number had dropped to 500, 

 and, a week later, to 100. 



Standing on a low hill 3 miles west of the 

 roost, the birds could be seen at sunset, 

 flying still farther west. What caused the 

 sudden exodus? The same thing occurred 

 last year. The 400 Crackles, that also roosted 

 in the marsh, left at the same time but flew 

 southeast to the new roost each evening now 

 instead of using the new Starling roost. 

 Nothing disturbed the birds in the marsh, 

 and I think it is merely the ending of the 

 breeding-season that brings the change. 



With all these birds in this township no 

 damage to fruit, grain, or other crops has 

 been seen, though the flocks were carefully 

 watched. The small flocks remain in the 

 pastures around cattle and the larger flocks 

 either fly out of this area or feed in fresh- 

 mown hay-fields. In winter a hundred birds 

 can be seen feeding on the village dump and 

 roosting in a church tower, probably the only 

 ones that have not migrated. 



The only act of violence witnessed was the 

 mobbing of a Night Heron at dusk by a band 

 of thirty birds that followed for a mile 

 jabbing repeatedly at it. Yet in this section 

 Bluebirds nest either in fence-posts or some 

 other undesirable (to a Starling) location; 

 Flickers are seen driving holes that are 

 occupied by Starlings later; and House Wrens 

 are found only in the village shrubbery. 

 There must be a reason! House Sparrows 

 feed all winter in perfect harmony with the 

 Starling and never seem to be molested. 



Summing it up, despite the rapid increase 

 and the competition caused by it, the Star- 

 ling, after seven years, seems very desirable 

 here. Yet it is only with foreboding that one 

 can watch the dusky birds sail into their 



