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 ef 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 rocst 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. 
