Evening star., 1934-08-15
BY THOMAS X. HENRY.

"starlings-
etc"
But that's not the way DR.. H. A.
Allard, Department of Agriculture
biologist and enthusiastic field nat
uralist, feels about the feathered
creatures who arouse a stream of pro-
family from so many Washingtonians.
Instead of swearing at them and
thinking up methods to kill or outlaw
them, Dr. Allard during the past few
years has spent many motionless
hours watching them in their nests.
AS result he has accumulated
enough notes for a large book about
them and he gives them a glowing
record as devoted mates, loving and
tireless parents, industrious and in
genious workers. True enough, the
starting follows its own way of life
utterly regardless of what human
beings think about it-except possibly
letting out a stream of starting pro-
family whenever it sees one OF the
obnoxious creatures.
Most curious of DR.. Allard's OBJ
ECINdblDIlS Vi bllC dCdl WIN
its meticulous personal habits, its
spotless housekeeping and its ex-
treme measures of household sanl-
tation. The naturalist has watched
the birds from two vantage points
sWf1ere they nested. one an observation
nest" with a glass cover in his barn
at Clarendon, Va, and the other
a window, box outside his chamber
window.
Male Real Help.
First he was impressed with the
behavior Of the male. Both male
and female cooperate in building the
nest. Then. while the eggs are being
hatched the male sits on them in
the daytime just about as much as
the female. while she scours the
countryside for food and air. The
mother. however, does all the night
duty. He never saw the father near
the eggs from sunset to sunrise. But
usually he was at the nest with the
first streak of daylight to relieve his
mate and let her get some exercise
and breakfast after her long vigil.
Once the eggs were Matched he
brooded, fed and tended the babies
equally with the mother all day long,
but at night he was gone and she
had all the care of them. Much of
the time of both male and female
was spent in laboriously cleaning the
beds of the little ones. The work
started as soon as they had break
tasted and fed the young and con-
tinued as long as there was a speck
Of dirt in the nest.
In this respect DR.. Allard noted
q bit of bird behavior never before
recorded for any species-essentially
"airing the sheets" The little birds
rested on a bed of straw. At least
once day both male and female
would spend some time plunging their
beaks deep in the straw and shaking
1t up, the only plausible explanation
of which seems to be that they were
getting out the foul air which might
affect the health of the little ones.
Diet of Baby Bird.
The little starting is raised on about
as rigidfy prescribed diet as the
human baby. First the parents scour
the country for the tiniest of spiders
and ants for it. These they put into
its mouth with extreme care. Almost
from day to day the food is brought
IN larger morsels of coarser nature
until by the end of the second week
the parents are bringing fairly large
and cnitinous beetles which they
literally stuff down the throats of
the infants. BY the end of the third
week, when the little birds are about
ready to leave the nest. they are being
fed full-grown June bugs.
The starlings are monogamous-ap-
parently exclusively so. AT least one
pair remains together for several
years. Whether a mating holds for
life DR.. Allard does not know, but
his observations indicate the two stay
together until one of them is killed
They establish permanent homes, to