24 BULLETIN 868, IT. S. DEPARTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the wing, much after the fashion of true flycatchers. From a perch 

 on a dead upper limb the birds would spy insects several yards away, 

 fly out, and dexterously capture them. Later, after the first of Octo- 

 ber, starlings changed their tactics, adopting methods similar to those 

 of swallows or martins in securing flying insects. The best illustra- 

 tion of these activities was furnished in northern New Jersey on a 

 calm day above a warm, sunlit meadow. Here a dozen or more star- 

 lings were sailing about and capturing insects at a height of about a 

 hundred feet from the ground. Under such conditions one not ac- 

 quainted with the starling would certainly have mistaken the birds 

 for martins, for, combined with a form which is quite similar, was this 

 flight evolution, which imitated the martins perfectly. 



Many ants in the winged stage are captured by starlings in their 

 aerial evolutions, some are picked up on the ground, and others are 

 secured from the branches of trees. On September 5 a number of 

 juvenile starlings were noted diligentl searching for and picking up 

 food from the upper branches of a spruce. To some extent their 

 actions imitated those of chickadees or warblers, though they were 

 not so sprightly. One of these birds was collected and its stomach 

 found to be filled with ants. 



Ants of the genus Myrmica are most frequently eaten by the star- 

 lings. Lasius, Formica, and Aplisenog aster also are taken. Bene- 

 ficial ichneumonoid Hymenoptera were found in over 75 of the 2,301 

 stomachs of adults, but in most cases only a single insect each. The 

 infrequent occurrence of bees and wasps in the food also indicates that 

 they, as well as the ichneumons, are picked up here and there, no 

 special effort being made by the starling to secure them. 



Hemiptera, true bugs, form only an unimportant part (less than 1 

 per cent) of the food of the starling. March is the month of greatest 

 consumption, due mainly to the quantity of soldier bugs (Pentatom- 

 idse) eaten, these offensively odored insects forming over 2.5 per 

 cent of the food in this month. As both predacious and plant- 

 feeding forms are found among these insects, the result of an indis- 

 criminate feeding on soldier bugs must be construed as neutral in its 

 effect. In fact, this same construction may be placed on all the 

 Hemiptera eaten by starlings. Among the plant feeders were found 

 the chinch bug (Blissus leucopterus) , the squash bug (Anasa tristis), 

 and the tarnished plant-bug (Lygus pratensis) ; and among the pre- 

 dacious forms, the assassin bug (Sinea diadema and Melanolestes 

 picipes) . 



Diptera (flies and their larva?) were present in only a limited num- 

 ber of stomachs and formed a little more than 0.5 per cent of the 

 annual food. Much of this material is secured about garbage heaps 

 and in the neighborhood of cattle, with which starlings are familiar 

 associates. The birds have been seen picking flies from the legs of 



