16 BULLETIN 868, U. s. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It must be remembered that in ascertaining the economic worth of a 

 bird not all the insects eaten can be placed to its credit, as many are 

 of great value because of their predacious or parasitic habits. 



Coleoptera (Beetles). 



Of the 41.55 per cent of insect food consumed by the starling, 

 nearly half (19.59 per cent) consists of beetles. These are divided 

 among numerous families, but weevils, carabids, and scarabaeids, in 

 the order named, are of the greatest importance. 



The Rhynchophora, or weevils, stand first among the Coleoptera 

 in the proportion of food furnished, 8.5 per cent of the starling's 

 food being from this source. In feeding on this group the starling 

 is doing a very useful work, as the snout beetles include some of 

 the most destructive insects with which man has to deal. Weevils 

 are eaten every month in the year. The smallest quantity taken in 

 any one month was 3.13 per cent in October, and the largest, 20.16 

 per cent in a winter month, February. An examination of the 

 monthly percentage table (p. 39) shows that there are two periods 

 of the year in which weevils form over 10 per cent of the food. The 

 first is in July (13.36 per cent) and August (10.91), when many 

 species are emerging; and the second is in January (14.10) and Feb- 

 ruary (20.16), when the starlings are feeding on hibernating forms. 



One of the most interesting food habits of the starling is in its rela- 

 tion to the clover leaf weevil (Hypera punctata), a European insect 

 which has long been introduced and acclimated in the United States 

 and which does serious damage to the clover crop in some seasons. It 

 is known that the starling habitually feeds on this insect in England, 

 but it apparently goes far beyond its normal habit in feeding on it 

 in this country. Nearly half (1,125) of the 2,301 adult birds exam- 

 ined had eaten clover leaf weevils, and 12 had taken their larvae. 

 Of these no less than 54 had taken 10 or more weevils for one meal 

 and 106 had taken from 5 to 10 weevils. The largest number of 

 larva eaten was 49, taken by a bird collected in New Jersey in May. 

 These formed 38 per cent of the stomach contents. Twenty-six 

 was the greatest number of adults from one stomach, and these, 

 together with 6 other weevils, formed 95 per cent of the food. In 

 February, 288 of the 398 stomachs examined contained remains of 

 this beetle, and in January, 33 of 84. In July, 211 of 375 birds and 

 in August, 216 of 347 had taken this weevil. 



In every month of the year the starling is searching the grasslands 

 and weed patches for the clover leaf weevil. The high percentage 

 revealed in January and February would seem to indicate that 

 Hypera punctata hibernates in far greater numbers than has been 

 commonly believed, for it is scarcely conceivable that so many dead 

 insects would be left in as good condition as are many of these this 



