ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 15 



FOOD HABITS IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 



Examination of 2,157 stomachs of adult starlings 8 showed that 57 

 per cent of the annual food was animal and 43 per cent vegetable. 

 During the months from April to November, inclusive, excepting 

 July, animal matter made up more than half the food, the maximum 

 being taken in April and May (91.22 per cent and 94.95 per cent, 

 respectively). . In July, with the great abundance of mulberries and 

 cherries offering an unlimited supply of luscious fruit, of the 52.67 

 per cent vegetable matter taken, nearly all, or 50.74 per cent of the 

 total, consisted of these two items. In February, animal food 

 dropped to the lowest point in the year, 28.17 per cent. The average, 

 however, for the four winter months from December to March was 

 31.5 per cent, a remarkable showing when circumstances are consid- 

 ered. The great majority of these winter stomachs were collected in 

 New Jersey and Connecticut, and in view of the usual climatic condi- 

 tions in these two States it seems noteworthy that starlings were able 

 to secure such a relatively high proportion of animal food. 



ANIMAL FOOD OF ADULTS. 



INSECTS. 



Of the total yearly food of the adult starling, 41.55 per cent is 

 composed of insects, a greater proportion than is shown in the food 

 of most of our native birds of similar habits. The monthly per- 

 centages of insect food are as follows: January, 27.66; February, 

 23.81; March, 23.87; April, 32.61; May, 49.94; June, 52.26; July, 

 41.98; August, 56.92; September, 52.83; October, 57.8; November, 

 54.0; December, 25.2. 



During winter many hibernating insects or the bodies of dead insects 

 which have been preserved by the season's cold are eaten. Among 

 these, beetles, weevils, stinkbugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and 

 lepidopterous pupse are conspicuous. As the fields become more 

 thoroughly gleaned the percentage of insects eaten decreases, until 

 in February and March it reaches its minimum, 23.81 per cent and 

 23.87 per cent, respectively. In April, as insects begin to appear in 

 numbers, the percentage rises, and during the months from May to 

 November, except in July, when the starling temporarily abandons 

 an insect diet to feast on wild fruit, over half the total food is insects. 



As the character of the insect food of a bird is of vast importance 

 in fixing its economic status, the different groups of insects in the 

 food of the starling will be taken up in the order of their importance. 



7 Graphic summaries of the food habits of adult and young starlings are presented in figures 2 and 3 (p. 38 

 and p. 45, respectively) ; and the relative proportions of the various food elements are set forth in percentages 

 in Tables II and III (p. 39 and p. 44, respectively). 



8 Included with the stomachs of the adult birds here discussed are stomachs of juvenile birds that had 

 left the nest and were shifting for themselves. 



