ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 55 



In previous years residents of the vicinity had undertaken meas- 

 ures, more or less feeble, to remove the objectionable birds. Some 

 of these afforded temporary relief. Roman candles shot on one or 

 two nights drove the birds away for a short time. Three incan- 

 descent lamps placed in a tree in the center of the roost gave relief 

 to that immediate vicinity. The ringing of a bell placed in another 

 tree served to drive away the birds in the early morning hours and 

 shorten their annoying daybreak serenade, and a little desultory- 

 shooting also had been done, but with no lasting results. 



Operations with a view of testing some of these methods of roost 

 eradication were begun on July 17, at the Orange roost. A shotgun 

 was used in the early evening, and when darkness arrived a number 

 of Roman candles were discharged. Five successive nights of attack 

 removed the roost. During these operations two observations of 

 importance in connection with roost eradication were made. One 

 was that the firing of a gun early in the evening, just as the birds are 

 coming to roost, makes a more effective impression than one fired 

 after the colony has settled for the night. When there is still day- 

 light the frightened birds will fly for some distance before alighting, 

 while later in the evening the birds move only a few -yards from their 

 former perch. It was also noted that in a mixed roost adult star- 

 lings were the first to take flight and young starlings were next to 

 leave; grackles were less easily driven away, while robins were prac- 

 tically fearless, few of them leaving the roost even after five nights 

 of attack. The relief obtained, however, was but temporary. In 

 about 10 days the birds, not being further molested, reoccupied the 

 roost. On August 24, a second attempt was made to drive them 

 out, and after 6 nights' shooting they left, not to return that season. 



On the last 6 nights of September a starling-grackle-robin roost at 

 Freehold, N. J., was attacked with the shotgun only and com- 

 pletely removed. The birds apparently chose a new roosting place 

 at some distance from Freehold, for when the roost had been eradi- 

 cated, comparatively few starlings could be found in the daytime 

 anywhere in the country surrounding the town, where previously 

 they had been common. 



A single night's shooting at a roost composed entirely of starlings 

 at Fairfield, Conn., during which 40 of the birds were killed, gave the 

 desired results. 



A roost at Montclair, N. J., had been a source of considerable 

 trouble for several years and measures had been taken to eradicate 

 it. Roman candles had no effect, but four men using shotguns loaded 

 with blank cartridges for three consecutive nights succeeded in driv- 

 ing the birds away. However, they moved to a point in Glen Ridge, 

 N. J., where they became equally troublesome. 



