THE STARLING.

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 28, 1 February 1919, Page 12

THE STARLING.

We »re in tho habit of looking upon the starlirjg as one of our best friends among the birds (writes "Koradi," in the Timaru Herald). At the p-resent time th©' lark and the sparrow, the linnet, and the multitude of other feathered pests that we have with us do not come in for any praise at all. On the contrary they receive nothing but condemnation, and there are a good m»ny farmers who would sv/eep them out of existence altogether if they had tho power. No doubt they would soon want a few. baok again, but with tha robbers at work all around them it is difficult to come to any_ conclusion but that wo should be well rid of them. The only exception is the starling, and we nearly all believe that it would pay us to encourage them to spread more than they are. But formers in the Commonwealth are not so sure that starlings ars an unmixed Mossing. Tho fruit growers are not their friends now, owing to tho depredations of the starlings, and now sheep owners who thought them friends are coining to regard them as enemies. _ The theory is that the starlings consume lice and ticks, whioh may infest tho sheep. Quite a different aspect is put on the value of this bird in a recent report from the Chief Inspector of Stock of Now South Wales. It is well known that starlings are very lousy birds, so much so that cases have been reported where dwellings"l have been rendered uninhabitable through starlings having access to the roof-space, and depositing lioe there. A senior stock inspector reported to his department as follows: —"In examining some sheep for lice infestation, I noticed that starlings had been roosting on the sheep's back, as shown by the wool being trampled and excreta on the wool. It is well known that the starling rides on the sheep's backs, so us to get any grubs that the shoop disturb in walking about, and they greatly damage the wool on the back by so doing, and they are terribly lousy birds. I noticed the", sheep biting themselves, and discovered a lot of starling lice upon them. I don't think they would live on a sheep, but they cause intense irritation while they are alive, as I _ know by personal experience, for they bit© very sharply. They are quite different from:the true sheep louse, being much smaller and of a- Brownish colour. On crossbred sheep the wool is very open on the back of most of them, so that the starling lice have no difficulty in reaching tha skin, and they bite hard and fast. I have no doubt that a good deal of the cause of disturbed wool on sheep's back is duo to these insects, as the sheep roll in order to rid themselves of them." Investigation of the crops of starlings failed to reveal blowflies or maggots, so i£ cannot be hailed as a check on the blowfly pest.

A French journal states that it has been found, that flies have a great objection to tho colour blue, and if buildings infested- with flies Me washed with a blu« instead of a white wash, flies would desert the placQ. In support of this, the followin jr instance is reported:—A fanner had 170 cow 3 housed in different sheds, tiiey were pestered witi flies, but he observed that in. 050 shed, the walls of which were a blue tint, the cows were not •worried. He therefore added a Hue colour to the lime with which ho washed the biiildinga, and from that time the flies have deserted the place. The following- formula ig used by him for the wash:—To 20 gallons of water add 101b of slated lim©, and lib of ultramtrine. The "washing is done twice during the summer.