PEST OF STARLINGS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19154, 10 November 1927, Page 8

PEST OF STARLINGS.

GASSING AND BOMBING. (raoH ora oww coßEMroHtijKri.) LONDON, September 30. The familiar autumn gatherings of starlings over London's roofs of an evening already are being noticed. In the country the flocks are growing larger daily, and at Merton, North Devon, are a plague against which the use of gas bombs has been suggested. They tome over the sky in black clouds to their night quarters in an eight-acre plantation, which, in consequence of their presence in such vast numbers, has been said to look as though an attempt had been made to burn it. The plague has been discussed by Torrington, Devon, Farmers' Union. It was declared that, apart from ruining the young trees, the birds contaminate the ground and spread the disease of coccidiosis, which affects poultry, rabbits, and sheep. It was a local poultry breeder on a large scale, Mr T. C. Buckland, who advocated the use of gas bombs. A similarly drastic remedy was tried a few years ago by the clerk to the governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, when the great flock of starlings in the hospital square kept the patients awake with their evening clamour. Ho had some smoke rockets, such as are used for drain-testing, fixed beneath the trees, and in the evening, when the birds had assembled above, the rockets were fired. This was successful, and the starlings migrated to the Temple Gardens.