94 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



of small black beads. At other times their food 

 consists of grain, worms, larvae, and some of the 

 smaller species of Helix, while they render good 

 service to the sheep and cattle b}^ perching on their 

 backs and ridding them of tlie insects with which 

 they are infested. 



In March, 1863, a white Starling was several 

 times seen between Kingsbury and Kenton, and 

 several attempts were made to shoot it, but without 

 success. 



RosEcoLOURED Pastor, Pastov roseus.^' This 

 rare visitant from the East, though several times 

 obtained in the adjoining counties of Essex, Hert- 

 fordshire, and Buckinghamshire, so far as I am 

 aware, has only once occurred in Middlesex. A 

 specimen was killed many j^ears ago at Norwood. 

 From this bird Edwards drew his figure, and first 

 noticed the species as British. Referring to the 

 coloured plate in his ' Natural History of Birds,' 

 that author says : " You may see this bird very 

 perfect, curiously stuffed, and set on a perch at 

 Salter's Coffee House, in Chelsea, where I had 

 liberty to draw it. Though this bird is not a native 

 of England, yet it was shot at Norwood, near 

 London ; for it often happens that birds not natives 



* No doubt called Pastor, i. e. Shepherd, from its habit 

 of following sheep and cattle to seize the insects which they 

 disturb. 



