ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 43 



(Gryllus pennsylvanicus) , while many of the grasshoppers belong to 

 the genus Melanoplus. 



There is nothing of particular interest in the remaining insect 

 food of young starlings. None of the other orders were represented 

 by as much as 1 per cent. Among the Hymenoptera eaten, ants 

 were prominent, and of the Hemiptera, soldier bugs (Pentatomidse) 

 formed the greater part. 



Of animal items other than insects, spiders are most conspicuous. 

 They were present in 182 of the 325 nestling stomachs examined 

 and formed 8.56 per cent of the food, compared with 1.28 per cent of 

 that of adults for the same period. Spiders are especially acceptable 

 to nestlings of a day or two, as their thin-walled stomachs are unable 

 to assimilate hard food. These creatures were found in the stomachs 

 of 71 of 79 starlings less than 6 days old, and brood after brood was 

 found in which every individual had been given one or more spiders. 

 In some instances upward of a hundred were found when an egg 

 sac filled with young spiders had been swallowed. A large part of 

 the spiders eaten belong to the family Lycosida?, the wolf spiders, 

 which are terrestrial in habit and are generally considered less bene- 

 ficial than those species which construct webs for the capture of 

 flying insect pests. 



The greatest difference between the food habits of old and young 

 starlings is in the quantity of millipeds eaten. These form nearly a 

 third (32.95 per cent) of the sustenance of the adult birds during 

 May and June, but less than a twentieth (4.56 per cent) of the food 

 of the young. In the frequency also of feeding on millipeds the 

 nestling lags behind its parent. About 52 per cent of the nestling 

 starlings were fed on millipeds, while fully 78 per cent of the adults 

 had taken such food during the same time. It would seem, then, 

 that the parent birds in their search for food for the young either 

 deliberately pass up many a milliped or else devour them themselves 

 as they proceed. 



Nothing of importance appeared in the remaining miscellaneous 

 animal matter, which formed less than 1 per cent of the food. 



VEGETABLE FOOD. 



Of the vegetable food consumed, cultivated cherries are the only 

 item of importance. This fruit was eaten by 30 of the 325 nestlings 

 collected and formed 3.18 per cent of the food, as compared with 

 8.01 per cent for adults during the same period. Most of the cherries 

 eaten by the nestlings are brought to them the last few days they 

 are in the nest, when they have acquired a dietary very similar to 

 that of their parents. During this short time, however, a hungry 

 brood of 5 or 6 can make away with considerable fruit. A nest box 

 which had been occupied by only one brood near Closter, N. J., con- 



