ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 23 
Tchernavoda and Kustendji; but I had the misfortune to drop upon a blank 
year. The railway from Tchernavoda to Medjidi is across a series of 
swamps full of reeds some twelve feet high. Ducks and Geese come down 
here to feed, and the Great Reed-Warbler and the Bearded Tit make the 
reeds their home. Now and then a Purple Heron, a Stork, or a Demoiselle 
Crane gets up, and Marsh-Harriers range over the swamp. On the out- 
skirts of the reed-bed luxurious grass grows, leading up to perpendicular 
cliffs from 50 to 100 feet high. Some of these are white chalk, and some 
consist of a buff calcareous conglomerate ; but most of the cliffs are sandy 
earth, full of Bee-eaters’ holes. The valley is about a mile wide, and has 
evidently within a comparatively recent date, geologically speaking, been 
the main mouth of the Danube. The lakes north and south of Kustendji 
are as evidently the silted-up mouths of the various arms of the river 
which formed the ancient delta of the Danube, which was probably 
destroyed by the drifting sand driven by the east winds from the shores of 
the Black Sea. Where the cliffs are rock the action of the water, and 
possibly of the ice, has hollowed them into caverns and ledges and _ holes, 
usually tenanted by Jackdaws, Starlings, Tree-Sparrows, and Rollers, and 
every two or three years by Rose-coloured Starlings. In driving across the 
steppes between the Danube and the Black Sea we now and then came 
upon small flocks of these birds. At a distance they are indistinguishable 
from Common Starlings; they run along the ground in’the same way, 
they have the same rapid straight flight, and the same habit of clustering 
together. On the ground they feed with the same eager anxiety, but 
frequently perch on the stunted bushes, when their pink colour is very 
conspicuous. ‘The notes of this bird are almost exactly the same as those 
of the Starling, they chatter together in the same way ; and in confinement 
the low warble mixed with the chatter is very similar in both species. In 
most places where this bird breeds it is protected on account of the 
enormous number of locusts it devours. In autumn it takes its toll on the 
fruit (mulberries, cherries, &c.) ; but its usefulness in spring is so apparent, 
that the Greeks and Turks do not begrudge it so small a trifle. In Asia 
Minor, as in the Dobrudscha, I had the misfortune to arrive the day after 
the fair. Dr. Kriiper and I were informed by our friend Guido von 
Gonzenbach that the Rose-coloured Starlings had bred in the previous 
spring (1871) in enormous numbers in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and 
had devoured the grubs and locusts to the admiration of the peasantry. 
They fixed upon some village unknown as a central breeding-place, and 
more than 200 of their eggs were brought in to Mr. Gonzenbach ; but all 
his information being Greek, he was unable to find the locality. After 
many inquiries we succeeded in discovering it amongst the hills. It 
appeared to be deserted, not a soul could we find ; everybody was down in 
the valley harvesting. At last we met an old man travelling with a mule, 
