60 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



Exeter, used to constitute a favourite rendezvous 

 for these birds, but the ground is now built over^ 

 Of equal interest are the migratory movements of this 

 species, which occurs at our lighthouses in large 

 numbers, either alone or in company with Skylarks, 

 Thrushes and other common birds. These mig-ratorv 

 movements are not confined to spring and autumn, 

 but sometimes occur in mid-winter. Thus a Starling 

 struck the Hartland Point L.H. on January 20th , 

 1882, and large numbers occurred at Lundy Island, 

 December 25th, 1880, arriving during the night 

 with a fresh N.N. W. breeze (Migration Report for 

 1880, p. 108). 



On the 15th of April, 1873, Mr. Gatcombe 

 examined (with a powerful pocket telescope) some 

 Starlings, near Plymouth. Among the number 

 " was a fine old bird that appeared to be altogether 

 of a beautiful glossy black, without any spots even 

 on the back'' (Zool. 1875. p. 3566), It is possible 

 that this bird was an example of the Sardinian 

 Starling, [Sturnus wnicolor)^ which had associated 

 with the common birds in their winter quarters in 

 the south, and had migrated northwards in their 

 company ; but it is of course equally possible, that 

 the unspotted bird was only a melanoid variety of 

 Sturnus vulgaris. Mr. Backhouse believes Sturnus 

 unicolor to have been obtained in Yorkshire. 



ROSE-COLOURED STARLING.— P«s^o>- roseus, (Linn). 

 A RARE visitant, obtained at wide intervals of time, 



