ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 29 



BERRIES. 



Some complaints of damage to strawberries have been made, but 

 the investigation failed to reveal extensive depredations by the 

 starling. A few farmers in New Jersey stated that the birds oc- 

 casionally ate berries, and one farmer in Connecticut shot 9 birds out 

 of a flock that started in on his berry patch. At the discharge of the 

 gun the starlings flew away and did not return. Little complaint 

 was made of damage to blackberries or raspberries, and as in most 

 places wild varieties are more abundant than cultivated ones there 

 is little danger of the starling doing much damage to such fruits. 



APPLES. 



Field work conducted in September and October was devoted 

 largely to investigating complaints about starlings damaging late 

 fruits, particularly apples. Extensive inquiries were made among 

 the farmers in those sections of New Jersey and Connecticut where 

 the starling was common, and no opportunity of collecting hi orchards 

 was overlooked. Considering the time and attention given to this 

 phase of the subject, it must be stated at the outset that positive 

 incriminating evidence against the starling secured from personal 

 observation and stomach analysis is small. 



Of the 2,301 stomachs of adult starlings examined, 45 contained 

 the pulp or skin of apples. Only 22 of the 45, however, were among 

 those collected in September and October, the remainder having been 

 taken in winter and early spring, when the fruit eaten was manifestly 

 waste, left on the trees or fallen to the ground. In bulk, cultivated 

 fruit other than cherries, of which a large part was apples, formed 

 1.75 per cent of the total annual food. In September it amounted 

 to 2.19 per cent, and in October, 0.38 per cent. A large part of the 

 stomachs in which apples occurred were secured in small orchards 

 in the vicinity of Adelphia, Monmouth County, N. J., whence 

 several complaints had come. 



On September 22, 1916, a flock of 200 or more juvenile starlings 

 were seen feeding on apples in a small orchard of middle-aged trees 

 near Adelphia. Only a few appeared to be eating the fruit, the 

 remainder being engaged in singing or preening their feathers. After- 

 wards the trees were inspected. The apples in the central top of the 

 trees were the ones sampled, and in many instances it was noted 

 that the birds had gone back to feed on fruit pecked open on previous 

 occasions. An opening an inch or two in diameter was pecked in the 

 skin and then a large portion of the pulp was eaten out through this 

 break (see PI. IV, fig. 2). 



On the following day a flock of birds was observed at work in a tree 

 of russet apples on a neighboring farm. Subsequent inspection of 



