STURDINiE. 



229 



THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 



Pastor roseus (Linnsus). 



This handsome species, which was first recognized as a visitor 

 to the British Islands in 1742, when Edwards figured an example 

 killed near Norwood, has subsequently occurred at intervals in many 

 parts of England, occasionally in Wales, and often in Devon and 

 Cornwall ; though more frequently on the eastern side of the island. 

 As a rule its arrival has taken place between May and October, 

 and the visitors to our shores appear to have been birds which 

 had separated from flocks of their own species and joined those of 

 Starlings &c. In Scotland, the Rose-coloured Starling has rather 

 frequently been noticed in the Orkneys, and has occurred in every 

 district except the Outer Hebrides ; in Ireland, though rarer, it 

 has wandered to the extreme west. 



As might be expected in the case of a species which has casually 

 visited the Shetlands, the Rose-coloured Starling has reached the 

 Faroes ; but up to the present time it has not strayed to Iceland. 

 In Norway one occurred near Trondhjem in 1885, and one at 

 Sitskoven in 1894, while several examples have been obtained in 

 Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and on Heligoland nearly fifty have 

 been noticed in as many years. Over the rest of Europe the bird is 

 an irregular migrant, increasing in frequency to the southward ; and, 

 though rarer in the extreme west, it has been found near Seville 



