UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 868 



Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 E. W. NELSON, Chief. 



jW^ft, 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



January 10, 1921 



ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING IN THE 

 UNITED STATES 



By E. R. Kalmbach and I. N. Gabrielson, Assistant Biologists. 



CONTENTS. 



Problems raised by the starling 1 



Sources of information 2 



Distribution and abundance 3 



Description 8 



Life history 9 



Economic status in other countries 13 



Food habits in the United States 15 



Animal food of adults 15 



Insects 15 



Millipeds 25 



Spiders 25 



Mollusks 26 



Miscellaneous animal food 26 



Vegetable food of adults 26 



Cherries 26 



Berries 29 



Apples 29 



Pears and peaches 30 



Grapes 30 



Corn 31 



Food habits in the United States — Continued. 

 Vegetable food of adults— Continued. 



Small grain '. . - 34 



Garden truck 34 



Wild fruit : 35 



Miscellaneous vegetable food 37 



Food of nestlings 37 



Observations from blind 39 



Stomach examination 40 



Animal food 41 



Vegetable food , . 43 



Food preferences at different ages. . 44 



Relation to other species of birds 46 



Natural enemies 53 



Eradication of roosts 54 



Control measures 56 



Legislation 57 



Summary of evidence 57 



Conclusion 59 



PROBLEMS RAISED BY THE STARLING. 



MINDFUL of the disastrous results that have attended the intro- 

 duction of exotic forms of wild animal life, farmers and bird 

 lovers generally have looked with apprehension on the introduction 

 and spread of the European starling in the United States. When 

 the destructive careers of such introduced forms as the brown rat, 

 the house mouse, and the English sparrow are considered, not to 

 mention the annual toll in millions of dollars now being paid to satisfy 

 the appetites of numerous insect pests that have been unwittingly 

 brought from abroad, it is not to be wondered at that the deliberate 

 importation and liberation of a considerable number of another 

 species of bird that has since increased enormously in numbers 

 should produce discussion. 



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