STAELING EOSE-COLOURED PASTOE. 99 



ing" as it does vast numbers of worms, grubs, and insects at all 

 times of the year; but, if the Starling continues to increase at 

 its present rate, it is not impossible that it may be forced 

 to somewhat change its mode of living-, and, should it begin 

 to attack the crops to any extent, the consequences would be 

 serious. At present a charge of occasional fruit-eating only 

 can be brought against it ; as for instance in the dry summer 

 of 1887, when the ground was baked so hard that worms 

 could not be obtained, and the Starlings attacked the cherries. 

 The rapidity with which they cleared the trees was aston- 

 ishing. That they will eat corn in winter is quite certain, 

 for I have found it in their crops. Some ornithologists are 

 beginning to look askance at the Starling, firstly because 

 it has been detected (as my friend Mr. Whitaker tells me) in 

 the act of carrying ofE young Sparrows from the nest, and 

 secondly from its habit of usurping every available breeding- 

 hole, to the exclusion of all other birds affecting such situa- 

 tions. No other bird is so aggressive in this particular, none 

 so pertinacious and unwearying in its endeavours to attain 

 the end in view. I have known a pair- of Starlings spend 

 hours in obtaining a desirable hole already occupied by some 

 other bird, and at last carrying their point by wearying 

 out the patience of the rightful occupant. They will even 

 induce the house Pigeon to vacate in this manner. A very 

 mocking bird, in addition to its own chattering song and 

 long-drawn whistles, it imitates the notes of many birds. 

 The Messrs. Matthews give the following : Peewit, Wryneck, 

 Blackbird, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Thrush, Moorhen, Coot, and 

 Partridge ; I can add the keewak of the Barn Owl, and Mr. 

 W. W. Fowler the Nuthatch. 



THE KOSE-COLOURED PASTOR. 



Pastor roseus. 

 The Rose-coloured Pastor is a rare occasional visitor. First 

 noticed in England in 1742, Shaw figured it in 1796 in the 



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