ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 11 



sites, tends to reduce the mortality among young starlings much 

 below that of many other species. 



Nestling starlings are fed by the parents largely on insects. For 

 the first week both parents take part in the feeding operations, but 

 in several nests that were under observation the female was left to do 

 all the work during the later part of the nestling period. When 

 3 or 4 days old the young are very noisy and give the feeding call in 

 lusty chorus in response to almost any sound. Later, they learn to 

 distinguish the approach of the parents and respond only to their 

 notes or appearance. Other noises or vibrations cause them to 

 crouch silently in the bottom of the nest, and no amount of coaxing 

 will persuade one of them to stir or make a sound. 



Two broods are usually raised each year and sometimes there 

 are three. The first of these leaves the nest about June 1 and the 

 second late in July. Fledglings which may have been from either 

 a belated second or third brood just from the nest were collected as 

 late as September 12, at Bay Shore, N. Y. 



As soon as the first brood leaves the nest small flocks of young 

 starlings can be found feeding on grasslands or roosting at night in 

 trees or buildings. These flocks grow rapidly in size and by mid- 

 July often number into the thousands. During the day no adult 

 birds are found in these early flocks and very few appear until after 

 the completion of the molt in September; both old and young, how- 

 ever, occupy the same nightly roost. These post-breeding flocks 

 usually select a roosting place hr trees in the residential sections of 

 cities and are there the cause of much complaint. Occasionally a 

 roost will be formed in a cat-tail marsh or in a building, but this is 

 the exception rather than the rule. 



At a roost in a marsh along the Hackensack River an opportunity 

 was afforded to watch the starlings congregating. As early as 3 

 o'clock in the afternoon flocks of a dozen or two could be found 

 gathering in the hayfields in the vicinity, or perching, on dead chest- 

 nuts, singing and preening their feathers. Most of these were 

 juveniles with the molt extending up as far as the neck. They 

 would fly alternately to the hay stubble, which was heavily infested 

 with grasshoppers, and then to the tree tops when flushed. By 4 

 o'clock a flock of a hundred or more had gathered. In the scramble 

 for grasshoppers and crickets, one or more momentary conflicts 

 between competitors would be almost continuously in progress and, 

 as the flock progressed across the field, a rolling aspect was imparted 

 to it as birds in the rear would fly forward to new territory. 



With the approach of evening the birds would rise and perform 

 numerous flight evolutions, in which they displayed wonderful 

 coordination of action. This was best observed when they would 

 fly in the direction of the sun, and the flashes of light coming from 



