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



The starling's work on apples is confined largely to isolated trees 

 and to small, old orchards. Late varieties suffer more than those 

 which mature at a time when there is still a great abundance of 

 wild black cherries available. In the aggregate the apple damage 

 is not great and is practically absent in young, well kept, produc- 

 tive orchards. Injury to peaches and pears is negligible, and the 

 damage to grapes is at present confined to small arbors — the large 

 vineyards suffering very little. 



Contrary to the opinion of many farmers, especially in New Jersey, 

 the starling secures an extremely small portion of its sustenance 

 from either sweet or field corn. Its association with the actual 

 depredators of cornfields, the red-winged blackbirds and grackles, 

 accounts for its reputation. It is true that the starling, especially 

 in the vicinity of roosts, does inflict some damage on corn, but com- 

 pared with that done by the other species named this is very little. 

 Its damage to small grain is negligible. 



In the small city or suburban garden the starling's fondness for 

 green stuff in spring and early summer has been the cause of some 

 complaint, but in large truck-crop sections, where the bulk of such 

 produce is raised, the aggregate loss is trivial. 



An idea of the economic significance of the starling's food habits 

 is gained by comparison with the food habits of certain well-known 

 native birds, with some of which it frequently associates. A thorough 

 consideration of the evidence at hand indicates that, based on food 

 habits, the adult starling is the economic superior of the robin, 

 catbird, flicker, red-winged blackbird, or grackle. It is primarily a 

 feeder on insects and wild fruit — less than 6 per cent of its yearly 

 food being secured from cultivated crops. What damage it does 

 inflict is due not so much to the character of its food habits as to the 

 fact that the flocking habit has allowed some minor trait to be 

 emphasized to a point where local damage results. The decidedly 

 beneficial character of the food habits of one, two, or sometimes 

 three broods of nestlings, numbering 4 to 6 to the nest, adds mate- 

 rially to the favorable economic status of the species. 



RELATION TO OTHER SPECIES. 



While the advent of the starling doubtless has had some effect 

 on native species nesting in the dooryard, it is not believed this 

 bird will jeopardize any species as a whole. Economically con- 

 sidered, the starling is the superior of either the flicker, the robin, 

 or the English sparrow, three of the species with which it comes in 

 contact in its breeding operations. The eggs and young of bluebirds 

 and wrens may be protected by the use of nest boxes with circular 

 openings 1£ inches or less in diameter. This leaves the purple 

 martin the only species readily subject to attack by the starling, 





