March 30, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
407 
Notes on the Habits of the Starling. 
Albany, N. Y., March 23.— Editor Forest ami 
Stream: Several letters relative to the habits 
of the starling have come to me since yon pub¬ 
lished my inquiry several weeks ago. One of 
these is so interesting that I send it to you now. 
It was written by William F. Hendrickson, of 
Jamaica, a professional man, who is one of that 
great army of observers of bird life from whose 
unprejudiced studies much valuable information 
has come. He says: 
“I first noticed these starlings in Long Island 
City eighteen or twenty years ago. They first 
appeared in the Astoria section, where they soon 
became numerous and spread to other outlying 
sections. In five or six years they became very 
numerous and gradually spread over Queens 
county, and thence easterly. I have seen them 
as far east as Greenport. They nest in church 
steeples, cupolas, barns, outbuildings, boxes, hol¬ 
low trees, etc., and raise two—perhaps three—• 
broods each season. In Long Island City there 
were formerly a number of truck farms, but to¬ 
day there are probably less than one hundred 
acres so cultivated. The starlings there fre¬ 
quented the streets, vacant lots, meadows and 
fields, and of course- could do little or no dam¬ 
age in such places. 
“In Jamaica, where I now reside, they are 
very numerous. For the past four or five years 
a pair has nested in a hollow catalpa tree in 
front of my house. When they begin to look 
about for the nesting site, they are very con¬ 
spicuous. Usually the male bird first appears 
and inspects the hollow in the tree and the sur¬ 
roundings every day or so, then the female 
comes with him and both go through the pro¬ 
cess of inspection, going into and out of the 
hollow, and in the mean time there is a good 
deal of ‘talk’ on the subject, there being much 
chattering and whistling, and, while this is go¬ 
ing on, the birds go all over the tree, inspect 
surroundings, etc. After they decide they get 
to work, and it seems to take a very short time 
to prepare the nest. After the female begins 
to deposit the eggs, the birds are not so notice¬ 
able. They take turns in the nest, the male en¬ 
tering the hole when the female leaves. After 
the young have been hatched, the male is at first 
kept constantly busy bringing food; later both 
do this, and when the young are grown a little, 
both birds are often absent at once. When either 
bird returns with food, it carefully inspects all 
surroundings, and if a person or animal is seen 
near the tree, the bird will not enter. When the 
coast is clear, the bird comes quickly to the 
nearest branch to the hole, looks quickly around 
and disappears inside like a flash. There is then 
a great chirruping, and the parent bird comes 
out, generally with some of the excrement of 
the young, which is carried in the bill and drop¬ 
ped some distance from the nest. 
I saw some time ago an article from the pen 
of the Connecticut State ornithologist, in which 
he said the starlings are dirty in their habits, 
and that they soon cause the ground under the 
nest to become filthy. Such is not the case with 
the birds I have closely observed. There is no 
excrement or other dirt to be seen* under or 
near the tree, and after two or three broods had 
been reared in the catalpa tree in question, the 
only evidence of occupancy by birds were one 
or two whitish marks on the stub outside of the 
entrance to the nest. Where adult birds roost 
there will of course be droppings, but the star¬ 
lings do not roost on the tree in which they nest. 
“As to feeding habits, we have during the 
summer possibly several hundred starlings in 
our vicinity, and during the past winter my 
family supplied food for a flock of fifteen or 
twenty, and many sparrows, which came daily 
for food during the severe cold weather. They 
would eat bread, seeds, etc., and would some¬ 
times fight the sparrows for it. They would also 
be very busy picking around in the garden and 
on the lawn, picking up and swallowing con¬ 
stantly, and evidently feeding on weed seeds. 
They also fed in the surrounding open country, 
in weed fields, etc., and must have destroyed 
enormous numbers of weed seeds. They also 
frequent the salt marshes in large flocks and 
feed where the salt hay has been cut. 
“In summer the adult birds fly over to the 
fields and bring back some kind of whitish 
colored worm or caterpillar about one inch long. 
Of these worms or caterpillars they bring a 
great many, going back and forth constantly. I 
have never seen them carrying anything else. 
“In my garden I grow flowers and vegetables 
of all kinds, peas, beans, corn, spinach, lettuce, 
tomatoes, celery, etc. Sparrows are quite de¬ 
structive to young peas and lettuce, and one year 
they destroyed all of my cauliflower plants (about 
seventy-five), but I have never known the star¬ 
lings to do any damage of any kind in the 
garden. 
“While the young are in the nest, the star¬ 
lings are so quiet and unobtrusive that occas¬ 
ionally one brood is grown and gone before we 
notice that the old birds are raising another 
brood, the young being taken away somewhere 
just as soon as they can fly, and we see no more 
of them, unlike other birds, which stay around 
their nesting place for quite a while. 
“The foregoing are my personal observations, 
and while I have heard it asserted that starlings 
do damage, I have seen no instances of it. 
“Judging from my own observation, the birds 
must be of benefit to the gardener and farmer 
because of the immense numbers of seeds and 
insects they destroy.” J. D. W. 
New Publications. 
The Mammals of Colorado, an account of the 
several species found within the boundaries 
of the State, together with a record of their 
habits and their distribution, by Edward 
Royal Warren, S.B., Director of Museum of 
Colorado College. Three maps and many 
illustrations from photographs taken from 
nature, $3.50. New York, G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons. 
The present volume was begun some year.s 
ago by William Lutley Schlater, then director 
of the museum of Colorado College, but he hav¬ 
ing discontinued the work, turned it over to Mr. 
Warren, who has completed it. 
Following the introduction, which acknowl¬ 
edges assistance from various well known men, 
is a brief definition of the life zones established 
by Dr. Merriam for the Western country, and a 
more or less brief bibliography. Perhaps it is 
fair to say that this contains many of the most 
important books on Western mammals, but on 
the other hand it contains several more or less 
unimportant pamphlets. 
Each species is taken up, its Latin name given, 
with the place where the name was first pub¬ 
lished ; next comes the t3'pe, locality, the measure¬ 
ments, description and the distribution. Follow¬ 
ing this, in larger type and manifestly for the 
benefit of the casual reader, are remarks, often 
exceedingly brief, on the habits of the species. 
In many cases the etymology of the scientific 
name is given. The orders .m i ;b. •;■. -i-- 
defined. 
All naturalists who have ■•'■i . 
in the West and most bi; : ■ 
wish to possess this volume, ' ^ ■ ■ •il. .-v- 
venient and useful, though in s-n-n., respects quite 
disappointing. The notes on the habits of many 
of the species are extraordinarily brief, but on 
the other hand most of the illustrations are of 
great beauty, and there are many of them. The 
picture of the little chief hare on page 55 is 
quite the best representation of this little animal 
that we recall, and is followed on the next 
page by a picture of one of the haystacks that 
these little beasts pile up. One regrets that the 
accounts of the habits are sometimes so un¬ 
satisfactory, but is grateful for the beautiful 
illustrations. 
Starling Habits. 
Portland, Conn., March i .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Referring to the letter of Ellis L. 
Dudley in your issue of the 24th, regarding the 
intermingling of crows and starlings, I want to 
speak of the habits of these birds as observed 
in this vicinity. 
Last autumn a man here dug a long trench 
in a lot some distance back of his house into 
which to throw the refuse from his kitchen, 
covering up the material from time to time when 
the earth was soft enough to do so. On account 
of the recent severe weather it has been impos¬ 
sible to do this, and many crows now congregate 
each morning about the ditch. These crows‘are 
joined by a good sized flock of European star¬ 
lings, and both species of birds feed upon the 
offal in perfect harmony. The crows and star¬ 
lings do not arrive at the spot together, but the 
starlings always follow the crows. 
Starlings are increasing rapidly in this section 
of the State, breeding in all suitable localities. 
During the colder months flocks of from fifty 
to one hundred individuals are frequently seen. 
They are partial to the vicinity of meadows, 
while many are contented to live about our v'l- 
lage, feeding at times upon food thrown out for 
hens, Jno. H. S.age. 
Great Blue Heron on Long Island. 
New York City, IMarch 23. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On March 10 a great blue heron was 
absolutely identified on the Elushing meadows by 
a friend of mine, who informed me that the said 
bird had been seen at intervals during the last 
three months and was frequently noticed feed¬ 
ing on killies in one of the salt ponds. 
In Eaton's “Birds of New York,” issued by 
the New York State Museum, on page 254, it is 
stated: “This is the hardiest of all our herons 
and is occasional!}^ seen in midwinter both on 
the coast and in the interior about the open 
waters of springs and streams,” 
It seems remarkable that one of these birds 
should have remained with us during a winter 
of such unusual severity, but he probably was 
misled by the mildness of the month of Decem¬ 
ber, igii, Robt, B, Lawrence, 
