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Nesting of the Starling in the 
Chicago Region and Other 
Notes of 1929 
By C. W. G. EIFRIG 
three starlings in that part of the forest preserve formerly called 
Thatcher’s Woods in River Forest, a western suburb of the great 
metropolis. (These time-honored names, by the way, should be retained 
by the forest preserve commissioners, and not given over to oblivion). 
Not seeing them again on subsequent visits, the writer thought nothing 
of the occurrence. On May 21st, however, we again saw a starling, this 
time on the opposite side of the Des Plaines River, in a tree at the water’s 
edge. The bird flew over to our side of the river, carrying something in 
its bill. I marked the spot, and after about a half hour came back to it. 
To my surprise there was a young starling, almost fully grown, looking 
out of an old woodpecker hole about twenty-five feet up in a dead tree 
which was broken off a few feet above the hole, and had no branches 
whatever. Soon the adult male starling came and fed the youngster. 
One or two more seemed to be inside, because they could be seen making 
ineffectual attempts to get their heads out of the hole. So far as the writer 
is aware this is the first authentic instance of the nesting in the immediate 
vicinity of Chicago of this new foreign invader. In 1928, Mr. C. A. 
Eickemeyer, a teacher near Crete, Illinois, thirty miles south of Chicago, 
described a new bird to the writer, which had nested in Mr. Eickemeyer’s 
orchard. From the description it was at once apparent that the birds 
had been a pair of starlings, the gentleman in question being also per- 
fectly familiar with our native birds. This year (1929) he again notified 
me that they had arrived and were starting nesting operations. I have 
heard of similar instances in 1928 from near Waukegan. This, therefore, 
registers another gain of breeding territory in the westward march of 
conquest of this species. 
Since the writer has his bird notes before him, it may not be entirely 
devoid of interest to add a few more items here from them. The artificial 
lake in the Mt. Forest preserve near Willow Springs is becoming a regu- 
larly established stopping place for water-fowl. On April 27th, a flock of 
about thirty cormorants were on the lake, and were seen on several 
previous and subsequent visits, also loons, gulls, mergansers, and ducks 
of several species. Even an osprey was seen on one visit. Until the 
making of this lake cormorants were few and far between in the Chicago 
area. They are, of course, of the double-crested variety. 
(): APRIL 16th, while out with a class of boys, the writer saw 
