54 BULLETIN 868, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ERADICATION OF ROOSTS. 



Soon after the first brood of starlings begins to leave the nest, some- 

 times as early as the middle of June, one may find these birds resort- 

 ing to nightly roosts (see pp. 11-13). These may be in trees or in 

 church towers, barn cupolas, sheds, etc.; but up to the advent of 

 cold weather the greatest number of starlings gather in tree roosts. 

 Frequently these are established in the residential sections of cities, 

 where the noise in the evening and early morning, with the attendant 

 filth and odor from their droppings, makes the starlings most unwel- 

 come birds. But by no means all of the nuisance should be attributed 

 to starlings, as in most roosts of any size grackles, robins, English 

 sparrows, cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and even purple martins 

 help to swell the numbers. Plainfield, Newark, Orange, Montclair, 

 and Glen Ridge, N. J.; Greenwich, Fairfield, and Hartford, Conn.; 

 Glen Cove, N. Y. ; and Germantown and Ambler, Pa., are a few of 

 the places where roosts, in which starlings formed a large part of the 

 assemblage, have proved to be a distinct nuisance. 



The roost encountered at Orange, N. J., is a typical one. Here, as 

 in many other instances, the birds had selected tall elms and maples 

 overhanging roadways and dooryards. When visited on July 15, 

 1916, the ground beneath the larger trees was whitened with excre- 

 ment. Feathers from the molting birds and the bodies of those that 

 had died littered the ground, and the offensive odor arising, espe- 

 cially in humid weather, permeated the whole neighborhood. 



This roost was occupied by starlings, grackles, and a few hundred 

 robins. Observations made on the incoming birds indicated that the 

 ratio between the number of starlings and grackles was about 3 to 2. 

 During the early evening starlings greatly predominated, but as dark- 

 ness deepened the proportion of grackles increased, while the last to 

 enter the roost were robins. On July 17, during four minutes at the 

 •height of the influx (6.56 to 7 p. m.) 900 birds entered the roost from 

 the south, and on the following night, during a period of 38 minutes, 

 3,100 were noted coming from the same direction. From these and 

 other observations it was estimated that the roost was occupied by 

 from 6,000 to 8,000 birds. During the entire process of assembling, 

 the birds that were already gathered kept up an incessant din — 

 the starlings with their variety of whistles and rasping notes and the 

 grackles with their monotonous "checks" and unmusical squeaking 

 calls. The clamor gradually lessened as darkness came, but a few of 

 the birds might be heard at odd times all through the night. At the 

 peep of day the gathered thousands would break out with a vol- 

 ume of song that terminated abruptly the slumbers of all fight sleep- 

 ers in the vicinity. This accomplished, the birds would depart rather 

 suddenly on their daily search for food. 



