4 BULLETIN" 868, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



range. The starling has been introduced and established as an inte- 

 gral part of the fauna of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, South 

 Africa, and the United States. 



In North America attempts have been made to establish it at Cin- 

 cinnati, Ohio (1872, 1873); Quebec, Canada (1875); Central Park, 

 New York City (1877, 1887, 1890, 1891); Portland, Oreg. (1889, 

 1892); Allegheny, Pa. (1897); Springfield, Mass. (1897); Bay Ridge, 

 N. Y. ; and a few other localities. The bird gained a foothold at 

 Portland, but now is scarce or extinct in that vicinity. Apparently 

 the introductions of 1890 and 1891 into Central Park, New York 

 City, are the ones which resulted in the permanent establishment of 

 the species, and from this colony have been derived the thousands 

 of buds now scattered over the northeastern United States. 



The starling has not spread with the rapidity characterizing the 

 English sparrow's occupation of the country. One> reason is that 

 this bird apparently does not travel in box cars; another, that it 

 has . not been introduced into so many localities nor carried from 

 place to place by man. Nevertheless, it has 'steadily widened its 

 breeding range and each year performs more and more extensive 

 migrations. 



For six years after its first successful introduction into Central Park 

 the starling did not breed beyond the limits of greater New York. 

 In 1896 it was confined as a breeding species to New York City, 

 Brooklyn, and Staten Island. By 1902 it had reached Norwalk, 

 Conn., and Ossining, N. Y., on the north; and Bayonne, N. J., on the 

 south. By 1906, territory as far north as Wethersfield, Conn., and 

 as far southwest as Trevose, Pa., was occupied. In 1908, Providence, 

 It. I., and Philadelphia marked the extremes of its breeding range; 

 and by 1913, Hadley, Mass., and Westchester, Pa., had been reached. 

 The bird bred not far from Washington, D. C, in the summer of 1916 

 and in the same season was found breeding as far north as the south- 

 ern boundaries of New Hampshire and Vermont, while toward the 

 northwest it had extended its breeding range as far as Oneida County, 

 N. Y. (see map, fig. 1). In its post-breeding wanderings the starling 

 has been recorded from a much greater area, extending in 1916 from 

 southern Maine to Norfolk, Va. On November 10, 1917, one speci- 

 men was collected as far south as Savannah, Ga. Inland it has been 

 seen at Rochester, N. Y., Wheeling, W. Va., and in east central Ohio. 



As a breeder the starling is by no means uniformly distributed 

 throughout its range. In the first place, it is decidedly partial to 

 thickly settled agricultural sections. It shows also a preference for 

 the vicinity of the coast and the larger river valleys, and in its spread 

 over the country lowlands are populated first. In the strip of terri- 

 tory from New York City to New Haven, Conn., where the starling 

 in 1916 seemed to be the most abundant breeding bird, it was con- 



