STARLINGS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 23, 27 January 1912, Page 19

STARLINGS.

The Middlesex County Council ha§, removed the nariie of the starling from the list of protected birds, and it Seems likely that in other counties it will join j the sparrow bb an outlaw and a dei clared enemy of the garden and farm (says the Spectator). Th 3 starling in tne British Isles, as indeed in most places Where intelligent observation U made of his habits, has for some time past, presented a difficult and very interesting problem. To b<>gin with, the ra,nge cf the bird during the last thirty or forty yean* ' has increased enormously. ' -At one time it,wa« never seen in Ireland, and appeared very rarely in the western districts of Cornwall and Wales; now it is quite common in Wales and -the West of England, and in Ireland it becomes more abundant every year. The fitst recorded nest in Kerry was noticed 'at Ardfert in 1908; and afi regards these nests in Ireland and ill Wules, in places where starlings used not to breed at all, an interesting theory has been out forward which needs the tests o* authenticated facts. Apparently we" are now receiving every year the advance guard of a Vast migration of starlings from Siberia. There are three types of starling which occur in 'Europe and Asia, and they differ in the colour of the' sheen on the Head and neck. In the breeding season, when the birds are in their brightest colours, the gloss on the Siberian starling is purple, on the starling of Western Europe it i& green^ and there seems to be an intermediate type of Central 'Europe in which the purple and green, are ntittgkd. The theory is that the green-heMed starlihg is the weaker bird, ah,d is," being driven further and further west by the stronger purple-headed Siberian, which, in turn, is developing jiew propensities as it establishes itself in its new quarters. It is now not merely an occasional sinner ih the cherfyWchard, but a fruit-eater' first and foremost, and as 6Uch to be destroyed. Protection has done too much for it, and there are now too many birds for the natural fdod supply of insects and grubs. • The' Countries which have had the worst experience of starlings are no doubt New fcfealand and Australia. Starlings were originally introduced into Australia \n the hope of benefiting the farmer by destroying various insects, and they have followed what seems to be the usual law, namely, that you cannot transplant any bird or beast from its native country into another without tho creature developing unexpected tendencies and probably becoming a pest. The introduction of the rabbit, into Australia is the most familiar instance of the danger of upsetting natural schemes of distribution, but the introduction of sparrows and- foxes has been alniosfc equally disastrous, and perhaps the Only examples of importations, of the kind which have been successful are* thee of the brown trout and the humble-bee introduced into New Zealand. The brown trout from the Wick, in Buckinghamshire, have gi'own to Wonderful sizes in New Zealaild rivers, and the humblebee has fertilised clover in New Zealand as assiduously as in Hertfordshire or Sussex. But the starlings have grown into a plague. In New Zealand the insect food-supply soon ceased to be sufficient for them, and they'- took to eating grain first and then went on to the humble-bees, partly to feed their young and partly, probably, because they discovered that the bees carried honey. In -Australia the growing numbers of starlings soon became formidable. They bred not merely once or twice ih a season, ac in England, but three and even five times. They quickly found oiit the trees of the Melbourne fruit growers and "orchardis.td,"/ and they are now one of the most serious problem's' of Australian agricultural economics. There Are. etill districts where little Fruit is grown and where the farmers find the birds are of great assistance in destroying the grubs and crickets which attack their grain ahd grass; but it looks already as if the supply of grubs might soon becotnb so greatly lessened as to turn the birds in search of other food, in which, qase they will probably, as in New Zealand, take tc eating grain. ,, They are spreading, meanwhile, all oVer the country, and it has not been, found possible to reduce their numbers id any appreciable extent by shooting them or with poison They drive the native birHs before thehi, out of their toasting and resting-places, in hedges and trees. Parrots, cockatoos, and laughing jackasses, which nest in holes, are turned out of their nesting-places ; indeed, in some districts there are not enough nestihg-places to go round fOr the starlings alone. The laughing jackass, with his big beak and stronglyset head, looks as if he could hold his own with any bird of hie size but he cannot stand up to starlings in dozen*, j If, in addition to' changing its habits of 1 feeding, the starling succeeds in ousting other native, birds from their native j country, it will have added yet another problem to the original disaster of its j introduction. The reason of the increase in the num- I ber of' starlings In Australia and England alike is, of course, the adaptable and enterprising nature of the bird it'selLr" You. Jiave only to watch a starling • walking' over' the lawn with its qtiicK questioning glances at ■ the grass all round, to see what an alert, clever, pusnjng bird.it is ( To watch a flock of starlings, again, in the autumn, when they,- first "join forces and swoop into their- selected flight quarters, wheeling, ] counter-wheeling, ' and shooting down afld* up- again, as if impelled by a single thought ih a single brain, is to wonder whether they do not possess some strange occult sense of organisation, which in the long process of evolution may carry them higher and higher in the seal© of creation. i t Starlings are amazingly intelligent ! birds when kept as pets. Not only can | they be taught to speak sentences and whistle tunes, but they are admirable' mimics of other birds and beasts, and will develop tho hlOst engaging tricks }of their own accord. The writer knew l a starling which used to sit on a tree opposite the door of a country cottage ■ and imitate the me\v of a favourite cat so exactly that its mistress would open the door to let the Supposed cat in. But perhaps the best account of a talking starling was given by Mr. T. H. Ferrar in the I*ield some two yertrs ago. His bird was eight weeks old When he first had it, and by the time ib was four years old it could whistle, among ether I tunes, two musip-hall songs and "Pqp Goes ihe Weasel" ; it could sing the complete son|, of a Roller canary and a Chinese robin ; it could say twelve or thirteen short sentences, such as "Clever Little Jack. Whatever is it? Kiss poor little Nancy" ; and it was perfectly tame, arid would perch anywhere on its master and mistress. It liked to sit on Mr. Ferrar's knee and spread out its wings before the fire, ana would, lie quite still if placed on its. back on the table. Bb.)< its pleasantest trick was its dive into the salt-box in which ib lived. The lid ot the salt-box was kept Bhttfc down, and' the starling, to get in, inserted its beak while iv flight between tne lid and the side of the box, pushed open tho lid by opening its beak, and so squeezed ih. All this Mr. Ferrar describee as ueinß "done so rapidly ohat ltappeare ,«ts If at the right moment the lid opens of ita own accoid."