ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 15 
FOOD HABITS IN THE UNITED STATES.’ 
Examination of 2,157 stomachs of adult starlings * showed that 57 
per cent of the annual food was animal and 43 per cent vegetable. 
During the months from April to November, inclusive, excepting 
July, animal matter made up more than half the food, the maximum 
being taken in April and May (91.22 per cent and 94.95 per cent, 
respectively). In July, with the great abundance of mulberries and 
cherries offermg an unlimited supply of luscious fruit, of the 52.67 
per cent vegetable matter taken, nearly all, or 50.74 per cent of the 
total, consisted of these two items. in February, animal food 
dropped to the lowest pomt in the year, 28.17 per cent. The average, 
however, for the four winter months from December to March was 
31.5 per cent, a remarkable showing when circumstances are consid- 
ered. The great majority of these winter stomachs were collected in 
New Jersey and Connecticut, and in view of the usual climatic condi- 
tions in these two States it seems noteworthy that starlings were able 
to secure such a relatively high proportion of animal food. 
ANIMAL FOOD OF ADULTS. 
INSECTS. 
Of the total yearly food of the adult starling, 41.55 per cent is 
composed of insects, a greater proportion than is shown in the food 
of most of our native birds of similar habits. The monthly per- 
centages of insect food are as follows: January, 27.66; February, 
23.81; March, 23.87; April, 32.61; May, 49.94; June, 52.26; July, 
41.98; August, 56.92; September, 52.83; October, 57.8; November, 
54.0; December, 25.2. 
During winter many hibernating insects or the bodies of dead insects 
which have been preserved by the season’s cold are eaten. Among 
these, beetles, weevils, stinkbugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and 
lepidopterous pupze are conspicuous. As the fields become more 
thoroughly gleaned the percentage of insects eaten decreases, until 
in February and March it reaches its minimum, 23.81 per cent and 
23.87 per cent, respectively. In April, as insects begin to appear in 
-numbers, the percentage rises, and during the months from May to 
November, except in July, when the starling temporarily abandons 
an insect diet to feast on wild fruit, over half the total food is insects. 
As the character of the insect food of a bird is of vast importance , 
in fixing its economic status, the different groups of insects in the 
food of the starling will be taken up in the order of their importance. 
7 Graphic summaries of the food habits of adult and young starlings are presented in figures 2 and 3 (p. 38 
and p. 45, respectively); and the relative proportions of the various food elements are set forth in percentages 
in Tables II and III (p. 39 and p. 44, respectively). 
8 Included with the stomachs of the adult birds here discussed are stomachs of juvenile birds that had 
left the nest and were shifting for themselves. 
