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



feeding ground during drier weather, and it was here that the birds 

 secured most of their beetle food. 



Observations as to the frequency of feeding gave more satisfactory 

 results. Although the starling is extremely cautious in its feeding 

 operations, this characteristic was less pronounced in the pair used in 

 this observation, owing to the fact that the nest was situated within a 

 few feet of the crossing of two well-traveled roads, and frequently 

 the parent birds would sit calmly in the tree while several vehicles 

 and pedestrians would pass within 20 feet. Little concern was shown 

 over the presence of the blind, but of the two birds the male was by 

 far the more cautious and at times would be frightened away from 

 the nest by some cause or other, thus delaying a feeding. It often 

 happened that the female would make several feeding trips while the 

 male was thus alarmed, and on one or two such occasions the female 

 attacked her mate, after which he would obediently visit the nest 

 and feed the young. 



In nine days a total of 390 feedings were recorded, in 14 periods 

 varying in length from 30 minutes to 4 hours and 41 minutes. One 

 hundred and four of the feedings were by the male and 2S6 by the 

 female. An average of one feeding every 6.1 minutes was main- 

 tained for the whole period of observation, 31 hours and 10 minutes. 

 The highest rate was recorded on the morning of May 18, which was 

 probably the seventh day of the nestlings' life. A feeding every 3.2 

 minutes was maintained for 4 hours and 41 minutes. The lowest 

 rate, once every 11.7 minutes, occurred on May 25, the day before the 

 young left the nest. 



On the basis of one feeding every 6.1 minutes, and assuming that 

 the young are fed 12 hours a day, which is conservative, there would 

 be 118 feedings a day. As this brood left the nest on the sixteenth 

 day, which is probably several days short of the normal nestling 

 period of the starling, for the birds were disturbed considerably during 

 the latter days of their nestling life, a total of 1,888 feedings would 

 have been given to this brood of five, or 377.6 for each nestling. 

 When it is borne in mind that the parent birds would often bring in 

 three or four cutworms, earthworms, or grasshoppers, or an equal 

 bulk of miscellaneous insect food, at a single trip, one may gain an 

 idea of the quantity of food required to develop a brood of young 

 starlings. 



STOMACH EXAMINATION. 



For detailed study of food items an excellent series of 325 stomachs 

 of nestlings, collected in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey 

 during May, June, and July, was available. Sixteen of these, how- 

 ever, contained so little food that they could not be used in estimating 

 percentages, leaving 309 for such purposes. Nestlings in all stages 



