12 BULLETIN 868, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



their glossy backs ap]:>eared as coming from a single mirror instead 

 of from several hundred bodies acting independently but in perfect 

 unison. After a minute or two of such flight the flock would some- 

 times seem suddenly to lose this ability of coordinated action and the 

 individuals would spread out in a long wavering line, breaking up 

 into several groups before alighting. As dusk approached, the birds 

 had worked their way toward the Hackensack River, where they 

 gathered in compact flocks, singing in the tree tops along the bank. 

 (PI. II.) A few were seen feeding with a large number of red-wings 

 on the tidal flats along the edge of the marsh. When darkness 

 finally came the starlings hi the tree tops sailed out over the marsh 

 and joined their relatives, perching on the cat-tail flags for the night. 



The behavior of starlings at all other roosts which came under 

 observation was much the same, except in one instance, at Glenn 

 Cove, N. Y. Here the birds went through the usual maneuvers and 

 settled in company with a great number of grackles in a grove on the 

 outskirts of town. Late in the evening the entire flock rose in a 

 body and flew to the permanent roost half a mile or more away, 

 behaving much the same as do crows in gathering at a winter roost.' 



These summer roosts are often inhabited by several species. 

 Grackles or starlings usually form the bulk of the occupants, but 

 there may be also numbers of cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, 

 English sparrows, and robins. An unusual roost was established at 

 Washington, D. C., in August, 1917. At a point on the Mall, where 

 grackles had roosted for years and starlings had been found for several 

 seasons, a great mixed flock congregated, consisting of 8,000 or more 

 purple martins, about 1,000 grackles, 300 starlings, and a few swallows 

 (probably rough- winged swallows). 



The birds from these summer roosts frequently have a definite 

 feeding route. For example, the starlings from the Glenn Cove roost 

 flew south and east for about a mile to commence feeding, and from 

 5 to 7 o'clock "each morning could be found in almost the same 

 locality — an abandoned field. From here they worked in a well-de- 

 fined circle, appearing at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in an orchard 

 three-quarters of a mile north of the roost and feeding there and in the 

 surrounding fields until going to the trees for the night. 



In October or November the starlings voluntarily abandon these 

 tree roosts and resort to church towers, barns, or other buildings for 

 shelter. Here they gather nightly until spring, when the flocks are 

 broken up by the mating impulse. A local estimate of the number 

 of birds in such a roost in a church tower in Norwalk, Conn., varied 

 from 10,000 to "a million," but an approximate count revealed the 

 fact that not more than 1,000 birds were roosting there in April, 19i6. 



Although the starling remains in some numbers throughout the 

 breeding range during the winter, it exhibits a certain migratory 



