ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. . diet 
sites, tends to reduce the mortality among young starlmgs much 
below that of many other species. 
Nestling starlmgs are fed by the parents largely on insects. For 
the first week both parents take part in the feeding operations, but 
in several nests that were under observation the female was left to do 
all the work during the later part of the nestlmg period. When 
3 or 4 days old the young are very noisy and give the feeding call in 
lusty chorus in response to almost any sound. Later, they learn to 
distinguish the approach of the parents and respond only to their 
notes or appearance. Other noises or vibrations cause them to 
crouch silently in the bottom of the nest, and no amount of coaxing 
will persuade one of them to stir or make a sound. 
Two broods are usually raised each year and sometimes there 
are three. The first of these leaves the nest about June 1 and the 
second late in July. Fledglings which may have been from either 
a belated second or third brood just from the nest were collected as 
late as September 12, at Bay Shore, N. Y. 
As soon as the first brood leaves the nest small flocks of young 
starlmgs can be found feeding on grasslands or roosting at night in 
trees or buildings. These flocks grow rapidly in size and by mid- 
July often number into the thousands. During the day no adult 
birds are found in these early flocks and very few appear until after 
the completion of the molt in September; both old and young, how- 
ever, occupy the same nightly roost. These post-breeding flocks 
usually select a roosting place in trees in the residential sections of 
cities and are there the cause of much complamt. Occasionally a 
roost will be formed in a cat-tail marsh or in a building, but this is 
the exception rather than the rule. 
At a roost in a marsh along the Hackensack River an opportunity 
was afforded to watch the starlmgs congregating. As early as 3 
o’clock in the afternoon flocks of a dozen or two could be found 
gathering in the hayfields in the vicinity, or perching on dead chest- 
nuts, singing and preening their feathers. Most of these were 
juveniles with the molt extending up as far as the neck. They 
would fly alternately to the hay stubble, which was heavily infested 
with grasshoppers, and then to the tree tops when flushed. By 4 
o’clock a flock of a hundred or more had gathered. in the scramble 
for grasshoppers and crickets, one or more momentary conflicts . 
between competitors would be almost contmuously im progress and, 
as the flock progressed across the field, a rolling aspect was imparted 
to it as birds in the rear would fly forward to new territory. 
With the approach of evening the birds would rise and perform 
numerous flight evolutions, in which they displayed wonderful 
coordination of action. This was best observed when they would 
‘fly in the direction of the sun, and the flashes of light coming from 
