Author writes of Shakespeare's widespread effects

Have you heard that Shakespeare was partly responsible for an estimated 200 million starlings, whose unpleasant habits still plague sanitation authorities all over the Western Hemisphere? A New York pharmaceutical manufacturer and Shakespeare lover was bent on transplanting to America every bird species mentioned in the plays. He released 60 starlings in Central Park in New York City on a snowy March morning in 1900.

Then they began to breed.