ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 25 
cows and in a few instances actually alighting upon their backs with 
the apparent intent of catching flies. In pastures starlings secure 
maggots by visiting partially dried cow droppings, which they thor- 
oughly riddle by puncturing with their bills. As this material dries 
it becomes pulverized and scattered over several square feet of sur- 
face. Under such treatment dipterous larve not actually eaten by 
the birds soon die for want of moisture. 
MILLIPEDS. 
So far as known, no other bird in this country equals the starling 
in the destruction of millipeds. These creatures form 11.71 per cent 
of the adult bird’s yearly diet. In April they amount to 54.69 per 
cent; in May, 42.19 per cent; and in June, 23.66 per cent; and, after 
a falling off in the later summer months, they again rise to 7.64 per 
cent in October. The fact that in April 119 adult birds of 132 ex- 
amined, in May 133 of 140, and in June 146 of 215, had fed on milli- 
peds, furnishes an idea of the persistence with which starlings search 
for such food in spring and early summer. Fifteen of the birds col- 
lected in April had taken nothing else, and 14 others had secured over 
nine-tenths of their food from a lbpede. 
At present the economic status of millipeds in hie country is not 
fully understood. Were the theory accepted that was generally 
entertained a few years ago that millipeds feed entirely on decaying 
vegetable matter, the starling’s destruction of them would have to 
be construed of neutral effect. In England, however, millipeds of 
the same and closely related genera are decidedly destructive in 
gardens, and recent investigations have shown that they have 
similar habits in this country. Damage to beans, strawberries, 
melons, cucumbers, radishes, and potatoes has been attributed to 
one species (Julus ceruleocinctus) which is a favorite food, item of the 
starlimg. The fullsignificance of the starling’s destruction of millipeds 
will be known only when the habits of these animals are better un der- 
stood. Whether their status be neutral or injurious, in feeding on 
them the starling secures a much needed supply of animal food and 
at the same time does not draw materially from the supply of other 
birds, few of which have shown a preference for millipeds. 
SPIDERS. 
Spiders hold by no means the attraction for adult starlmegs that 
they do for the nestlings (see p. 43). Of the 2,301 stomachs examined, 
480 contained spiders, which formed 1.48 per cent of the annual diet. 
In only one month did they constitute over 3 per cent of the food; 
in December, 17 of 44 birds had eaten spiders to the extent of 3.48 
per cent of their food. Most of the arachnids eaten were wolf 
spiders (Liycoside), which are terrestrial in habits and generally 
goa =o) 4 
