File:Economic value of the starling in the United States (1921) (14746659154).jpg

Identifier: economicvalueofs868kalm (find matches)
Title: Economic value of the starling in the United States
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Kalmbach, E. R. (Edwin Richard), 1884- Gabrielson, Ira Noel, 1889-
Subjects: Birds Starlings
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Contributing Library: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
as the cutting down of the available food of native birds, as theyseldom resort to such food. FOOD OF NESTLINGS. From an economic standpoint, the food habits of nestling passerinebirds are, as a rule, more commendable than those of the adults, andwhen one considers that during the nestling period the young birds ofmany species outnumber the parents two to one, the importance ofknowing what they are capable of doing is manifest. Then, too, itmust be remembered that the food required for the young growingbird is vastly more than that needed for its parent. During thefirst few days of the nestlings life, especially, it consumes enormousquantities of food, estimated in the cage of some species to be on eachday a mass equal to its own weight. This demand for food, much ofwhich consists of injurious insects, is greatest during May, June, andJuly, a time when growing crops are benefited most by a suppressionof their insect enemies. 38 BULLETIN U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. xx\\ ^ v^^V^wv;
Text Appearing After Image:
C70CL/ 7t?V*///Vt? C700^ J7&K/JOJ/\ ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 39 Table II.—Monthly percentages of the various items in the food of adult starlings (see fig- 2). Month- Kind of food. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. ly av-erages. Weevils 14.10 20.16 7.97 4.35 4.31 7.39 13.36 10.91 3.93 3.13 5.33 7.00 8.50 Ground beetles 1.23 U.42 1.07 7.31 8.76 7.96 9.11 13.02 12.93 4.56 1.16 1.12 5.71 May beetles 0.14 0.27 4.52 11.04 3.28 4.08 0.45 0.38 2.60 0.10 0.05 2.24 Other beetles 2.27 0.49 2.39 6.55 6.23 4.56 3.70 1.76 0.75 1.15 2.27 5.54 3.14 Grasshoppers Caterpillars 4.42 0.55 2.61 1.59 0.84 1.24 2.77 22.30 30.75 38.95 38.26 4.76 12.41 3.88 1.04 5.24 5.56 13.97 20.56 4.57 3.69 0.83 2.16 5.69 5.26 6.04 Millipeds 0.44 0.04 0.66 54.69 42.19 23.66 3.68 0.20 4.11 7.64 1.24 2.02 11.71 Miscellaneous ani- mal matter l 3.91 3.07 6.23 5.26 6.98 10.80 5.71 5.56 3.56 11.83 3.01 5.05 5.93 Garbage (animal)-. 1.69 2.40 8.15 1.39 0.63 0.32 0.35 0.32 0.23 0.36 1.32 Ga

Note About Images