1118 



The Starling. 



[Mar., 



insects, 8.5 per cent, of earthworms, 6.5 per cent, of slugs 

 and snails, 1.5 per cent, of millipedes, and 2 per cent, of 

 miscellaneous animal matter. The percentages of the different 

 items are expressed diagrammatical ly in Fig. 2. Further 

 inquiry into the nature of the vegetable matter shows it to 

 consist of 20.5 per cent, of cereals, 2.5 per cent, of cultivated 

 roots and leaves, 15.5 per cent, of cultivated fruits, 7 per cent, 

 of wild fruits and seeds of weeds, and 3.5 per cent, of 

 miscellaneous vegetable matter of a neutral nature (see Fig. 3) . 



If the monthly averages are examined we find that the 

 percentage of animal matter is greatest in April, May and 

 June, the respective percentages being 65, 92 and 87. The 

 highest percentage of fruit is found in July, August and 

 September, and the highest percentage of cereals in September, 

 October and March. In some districts the total percentage of 

 injuries during the months July to October is nearly 100, in 

 other words, cereals and cultivated fruits form the main items 

 of food during this period of the year. 



Summarising the above figures, we find that 36.5 per cent, 

 of the starlings' food constitutes a benefit to the agriculturist, 

 41 per cent, an injury, and 22.5 per cent, is of a neutral nature. 

 These percentages are expressed diagrammatically in Fig. 4. 

 The difficulty is how to balance these figures. This can be 

 accomplished only by interpreting the economic value of the 

 different items in the light of experience gained in such work. 



Let as first examine the nature of the benefits. Amongst 

 the insect food we find large numbers of click-beetles and 

 weevils, a few June bugs, wireworms and many beetle larvae. 

 (The starling does not consume anything like the number of 

 wireworms that the rook does.) Surface larvae such as those 

 of the Garden Swift Moth, the Heart and Dart Moth, the 

 Great Yellow Underwing Moth, and the caterpillars of the 

 Winter Moth form a considerable item, also leather-jackets 

 and the larvae of other Dipterous flies. Slugs and snails consti- 

 tute the next most important item. Millipedes are occasionally 

 taken, but are not a large item. 



All the above-mentioned insects are exceedingly injurious to 

 agricultural and fruit crops, and the number of individual forms 

 destroyed must be very great. It is necessary to bear in mind, 

 however, that the bulk of this kind of food is consumed in 

 April, May and June, that is to say, for a period of about three 

 months the starling is wholly beneficial, for another three months 

 it is partly so, and for the remaining six months it is harmful. 



