The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-12-27
PROTECTION WITHDRAWN FROM
THE EUROPEAN STARTLING.

me European STARRING was intro
duced into the United States nearly
twenty five years ago and has
New York city and now . ,s tound IN
the neighbor,us States OF Connecticut.
New Jersey. New York, Pennsylvania
ana Massachusetts. During it, m,gra-
lions IN eearch OF FOOD Z. ranges much
further from th- original centre and
, occurs IN considerable nuu>oers es FAR
south even a. tho District OF Columbia
The starring "a markedly insect.vor-
ous especially IN summer. and prPys
upon many noNlous varieties. In this
respect e Ia 20 be classed among our
usefu. birds. So far as - known q
has not proved destructive 20 grain
crops. but u Is known 70 be very fond
OF small fruits, and as ~ associates IN
,arge ho"ks = IS likely 20 become a
pest 20 the orJhardis. In addition, 4
in buildings for nesting Ttcs and thus
IS brought into direct competition WITH
certain OF the useful native birds. more
particularly the bluehrd. purple martin
white he'lea swallow. house wren and
flicker
The bird IL steadily extending Sc
territory, and tho Bureau Of Biological
survey says y Will bs wise 20 Win.
| draw all protection from II. as has al.
ready been done in Connecticut, New
II. ~.
: including the centre OF It's abundance
with n view TO checking its increase snC
. spread The shipment Of these bird
. from ore St;Me TO another has beef
. prohibited under heavy penalty by ac
? Of Congress. Under ordinary Circum
I stances even after all protection i
4 withdrawn the bird VIII probably prove
To he capable of taking care of itself
I That ultimately II will spread over
A large part Of tho United States 1
= highly PROBABLE
In addition to studying ire starting
the = illogical Survey studied tho eco
nomlc status Of many other birds
largely through tho method OF analvz
ing tho food in their stomachs. 10 deter
p mine whether their feeding habits wer
P helpful or destructive 10 agriCultur,
= NJ n result OF this study eleven bird
were added 10 tho list OF bird enemic
Of tho boil wcevil. making total q
=, sixty -four rhus far discovered.
In the matter Of the alfalfa weev'
$ fortv-five species Of birds as Well n
frogs. toads and the ealamandcr wer
found n feed upon this beetle, III
most active enemies OF the wecV
among tho birds arc the Brewer black
bird. the Western meadow lark the val
lev quail and the English sparrow. q
vertebrate enemies other than birds IN
Rocky Mountain toad renders good ser
vlce in destroying breeding adult in
sccts IN spring ana lsrv@ later IN IN
year.
An examination OF the stomhchs .
600 birds seems 10 Indicate that bird
are OF no value a. enemies Of the IN
grown range catorpilars MAMMAL
particularly the skunk. seem 10 be IN
important enemies Of this pest.
During the year permits werc 'sric
for importing 47539o birds anon
which were 36S676 Canaries, 36,Tt
parlridgcs and Alas pheasants Their
was n noticeable increase In the IN
a porlai'on Of partridges, nm number :
is Stntcs. Including iowa and oregon, al
Il experimenting In the introduction
r- these game birds for restocking pu
d poses
,e TanharN makes good covering Il
81 hardy bulbs and perennial plants. II
# cheap and clean. Strange N Is not mo
nj generally used
Pc
i Tarhark on the temporary Wallis b
40 tween flower beds finishes them {
Ia neatly and makes these walks mo
or suitable for my lady OF the garden
lie wet wcs ther. Wonder why no one thin.
70 10 use it2