Starling in Western Montana
Starling in Western Montana.-The spread of the Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) in the United States has recently been discussed by Wing (Auk, 60,1943:74-87). He states that the first records in a new area are usually of a few winter stragglers. Such was the case of the first birds to come to my attention in western Montana. Five or six were seen in company with a wintering flock of Redwinged and Brewer blackbirds near Corvallis, Ravalli County, on January 25, 1941. I saw the Starlings again at the same locality the following week, but was not able to obtain specimens either time. More recently on November 14, 1942, I shot into a large flock of migrating Red-wings near Round Butte, Lake County, and obtained two Starlings along with several Red-wings. It is likely that there were several more Starlings present in this flock. I have not found recorded instances of the presence of Starlings in western Montana. Starlings were observed in eastern Montana near Billings, which is 300 miles east of the above-mentioned localities, on December 23, 1940, by Louis M. Moos and Donald Graves (Audubon Magazine, 43, 1941: 135) .-PHILIP L. WRIGHT, Department of Zoology, Montana State University, Missoula, Montana, February 16, 1943.
