354 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



I have always been a supporter of the artificial 

 extension of the range of desirable birds ; as we 

 must, in our own interests, curtail the range of some 

 species, it is only reasonable that we should extend 

 that of others, while the harm supposed to be done 

 by introduced birds is in most cases grossly exag- 

 gerated. According to the, current stories, which 

 are circulated by exactly that class of naturalist 

 which hunts to death the last remnants of hard- 

 pressed species, introduced birds increase enor- 

 mously, change their habits and become a pest, 

 and persecute to the death the " interesting indige- 

 nous avifauna." 



The real facts are that any bird which increases 

 largely and is at all omnivorous is liable to change 

 its habits and become a pest in its own country or 

 any other, for where individuals are numerous 

 there is always a greater chance of some striking 

 out a new line ; I have noticed, for instance, that 

 in the few cases in which I have seen Starlings 

 feeding in a street, they have always been single birds, 

 and those that roost on Nelson's Column in Tra- 

 falgar Square (where, curiously enough, they never 

 alight on the statue of the hero himself) used, when 

 I first observed them some years ago, only to drop 

 in in ones and twos, and not, as now, in parties. 



So it is, no doubt, that one hears complaints 

 about introduced StarUngs from fruit-growers in 

 Australia — and also in England, now that this 

 bird has so much increased here. As to the effect 

 on the interesting indigenous avifauna, this, as 



