ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 



45 



From the foregoing detailed account of the food of nestling star- 

 lings and the comparisons made with the food habits of the parent 

 birds at the same time of year, it is apparent that the habits of the 

 young materially raise the starling's economic status in the early 

 summer months. In the consumption of destructive caterpillars, 

 crickets and grasshoppers, and scarabaeid beetles, three of the favor- 

 ite food items of starlings, the young birds excel, and in the destruc- 







'so/c/ 





P/ZS* 





Fig. 3. —Chart of food of 295 nestling starlings, showing its changing character during the three stages of 

 nestling life. In Table III, page 44, the same information is presented in percentages. Explanatory 

 remarks on both chart and table are given on page 44. 



tion of beneficial ground beetles and cultivated cherries they are not 

 so culpable as their parents. Correlated with this demonstrated su- 

 periority in food habits are the facts that, bird for bird, nestlings con- 

 sume more food than adults and that in the case of the starling they 

 outnumber the adults two to one. Confronted with such an array 

 of favorable testimony the worth of the young starling can be scarcely 

 overestimated. 



