STARLINGS 203 



Kalmbach and Gabrielson speak of the bird as "a mimic 

 par excellence," and mention a considerable number of native 

 species which it imitates, among which are the wood i)ewee, 

 bluebird, quail, flicker, blue jay, red-winged blackbird, and 

 Carolina wren.** 



Food habits. — In their study of the economic status of the 

 starling in the Northern States, Kalmbach and Gabrielson 

 find that a large share of the bird's food for the year (41V^ 

 per cent) is composed of insects, principally beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, crickets, and caterpillars; millipeds are extensively 

 eaten, and spiders frequently. The most serious damage done 

 by the starling is in its destruction of cultivated cherries, 

 which in June furnished 17 per cent and in July about 15 per 

 cent of the total food of adults. 



Apples are also damaged to some extent and sometimes 

 grapes or other small fruits. Corn is occasionally attacked 

 but the damage to this crop is njot serious and much less than 

 that caused by the grackle and other native blackbirds. 



Wild fruits form the largest single item in the starling's 

 yearly food, amounting to nearly 24 per cent of the total. 

 Those most frequently eaten are mulberries, blackberries, 

 June berries, wild black cherries, chokecherries, elderberries, 

 bayberries, and the fruit of the sour gum, Virginia creeper, 

 sumac, and poison ivy. As a result of their studies, Kalm- 

 bach and Gabrielson sum up the status of the starling in part 

 as follows: 



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 materially to the favorabl* 

 economic status of the species.* 



•♦Kalmbach E K.. and I. N. Gabrielson, Economic value of the Btarlintr in the 

 United States: Bull. 868, U, S. Dept. Asrr., p. 9, 1921. 



•Kalmbach, E. R., and I. N. Gabrielson, op. cit., p. 68. 



