•I 
THE MENACE OF THE STARLINC 
HE LIVES IN SWARMS AND DRIVES OUT OTHER 
BIRDS; BUT IT IS EASY TO KEEP HIM IN CHECK 
DITOR Forest and Stream : 
Your article on the starling 
is indeed timely, at least to 
those who have yet to make 
his acquaintance. And as I 
live in “the center of the in¬ 
fested district” may I add 
a few words to the indict¬ 
ment, and offer a reasonable 
means of keeping him with¬ 
in bounds? The starrtng 
reached Norwalk in 1900, and was well 
received and protected under the State laws- 
He was fed about the homes and increased 
rapidly. Now, fall flocks of from four 
to six thousand starlings gather in a fixed 
roost until they separate and pick out some 
church steeple or other building in which 
to spend the winter. Connecticut is well 
known for its number of people interested 
and friendly to our native birds, and it is 
significant that among those who have 
given the subject careful thought, who try 
to attract the native birds to nest about 
their homes, and who put out food in 
winter, you can seldom find one to say 
a good word for the starling. 
The reason is plain. As stated in your 
paper, they drive out hole and box-nesting 
native birds, and drive away the latter 
from the suet and fats placed for them, 
devouring it faster than most people care 
to replace it. 
The starling does some good as an in¬ 
sect eater and seed gleaner. How much, 
we will some day know from the researches 
of the Biological Survey. And I imagine 
that a stomach examination may give him 
a pretty clean face, as compared with 
other birds. 
It is because of his numbers, and his 
turning to fruit—apples and pears—that he 
becomes a menace. A year ago at Bird- 
croft Sanctuary we had a fine crop of wild 
berries for the native birds. One day when 
the warden was off duty a flock of hun¬ 
dreds of starlings descended on the place 
and completely cleaned it of berries in less 
than two hours. 
I have known of cherry trees with a 
good crop from which the starling got all 
the cherries, literally hundreds of them 
stripping the tree- And they attack grapes, 
and the choicest apples in the top branches, 
eating the pulp until there is nothing left 
but the skin. 
That the starling is guilty of all these 
things is beyond question the fact, be¬ 
coming painfully -evident as soon as he be¬ 
comes at all numerous. In the fall, gather¬ 
ing in immense flocks, he chooses a group 
of fine trees for a “roost,” to which he re¬ 
sorts nightly. If the starling would select 
these roosts in the woods it would not be 
so bad. But his liking for human habita¬ 
tions is marked. And this may be the 
reason for his selecting the finest shade 
trees in some one’s yard. At any rate the 
attendant noise and other discomforts of 
the good people must be experienced to be 
understood. 
I knew of one roost of some four thou¬ 
sand, that chose fine Ginko trees whose 
branches spread out and over the porch of 
a house. And in spite of all efforts to dis¬ 
courage them, the starlings returned night¬ 
ly and made living a nightmare for the oc¬ 
cupants. 
FTER breaking up from these outside 
fall roosts, the birds select their win¬ 
ter quarters. If some church steeple 
has a broken slat or other opening, they are 
quick to take advantage of it and resort to 
it nightly in large numbers. It is this habit 
of gathering in buildings in numbers that 
offers a safe and quick method for holding 
the starling in check. 
They can be killed easily in numbers in 
(Concluded on page 179.) 
FUR FARMING FOR PROFIT 
BIOLOGICAL SURVEY’S EXPERIMENTS PLACE 
THIS INDUSTRY ON PRACTICAL FOOTING 
A LTHOUGH the business of growing 
furs for profit has been practiced 
sporadically for a number of years, 
it is only within a very few that it has at¬ 
tracted much attention. Now, however, 
the question of how to breed wild birds 
and wild mammals for their various prod¬ 
ucts is receiving much consideration, and 
fur farming is becoming a recognized in¬ 
dustry of some importance. The constant 
depletion of the stock of wild fur-bearers, 
and the consequent increase in the price of 
all furs, make the matter deserving of con¬ 
sideration by persons so situated that they 
can without much expense or trouble carry 
it on as a part of their ordinary business. 
Dr. Ned Dearborn, of the Biological Sur¬ 
vey, has done extensive experimenting in 
this matter, and 
i s , therefore, 
qualified to 
speak with au¬ 
thority on the 
subject. In the 
Year Book of 
the Department 
of Agriculture 
for 1916 ap¬ 
pears an article 
from his pen 
which is well 
worth examin¬ 
ing. Fur-farm¬ 
ing, in a small way, and with inex¬ 
pensive breeders, can be attempted with 
a very modest capital. On the other hand, 
if one desires to plunge and to make a be¬ 
ginning by trying to rear the highest-priced 
furs, considerable money is required. Thus, 
to build a two-pair fox ranch, and to stock 
it with four fine specimens of silver fox, 
will cost not less than $2,000, and perhaps 
a good deal more. As one goes down in 
the scale the money requirements are re¬ 
duced, so that to stock a similar ranch with 
cross foxes would cost $600, or more, while 
if one comes down to mink or skunk the 
cost is still less. In the year 1913 the 
dressed and manufactured furs imported 
into the United States were valued at more 
than $15,000,000, while furs of North Amer¬ 
ican origin annually marketed in the United 
States and England are roughly given as 
worth about $60,000,000. Certain parts of 
these great sums are widely distributed 
among the trap makers, trappers, merchaats 
of all sorts and descriptions, and middlemen. 
It is generally recognized that the finer 
and more durable kinds of furs—beaver, 
otter, mink and marten—have become 
scarce, and are now out of the reach of 
most people, their place being taken by 
other skins which a few years ago were 
esteemed as of little or no value. The 
choicest furs 
now bring very 
high prices, 
which vary 
with the fash¬ 
ions, to be sure, 
yet fine and 
durable furs 
last and may 
long be worn. 
In fur-farm¬ 
ing it is prac¬ 
ticable to keep 
certain species 
of fur-bearers 
in very small quarters and still have them 
do well. The cost of feeding the animals, so 
long as they are few in number, is trifling, 
and the labor of attending to them slight. 
Because of the high prices that the furs 
bring we have heard much of the breeding 
of silver foxes within the past few years, 
and, according to newspaper reports, there 
has been a considerable speculation, if not 
in their fur, at least in the living animals— 
the breeders. Yet the first of the wild fur- 
bearers to be domesticated was probably 
the mink, and more than forty years ago 
The enclosures described in the Year Book (from 
which this illustration is reproduced) are small 
and inexpensive, but thoroughly practical. 
