the Lower Yangtse Basin. 357 



Fam. Sturnid^. 



144. ACRIDOTHERES CRISTATE LLUS (L.) . 



(524.) One of our commonest birds. Breeds in hollow 

 trees, roofs of houses, &c. Nests made of small sticks, 

 roughly lined ; eggs 5, bright blue, hatch out in May. In 

 the nesting-season these birds are very pugnacious, and 

 desperate fights take place between two or three couples, in 

 which the females take their part. 



In winter thev congregate in very large flocks, and fre- 

 quent the outskirts of the villages, feeding, when times are 

 hard, on the foulest matters. The nestlings are fed, to a 

 great extent, on green leaves. 



145. StURNIA STURNINA (Pall.). 



(521.) Temenuclms dauricus, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, 

 p. 384. 



Flocks of this bird pass through in May and again in 

 September. 



{Note. — In the Shanghai Museum is a specimen of S. si- 

 nensis labelled 26th Oct. ; but there can be little doubt that 

 this is a mistake. The occurrence of this species at all would 

 be doubtful, and at the end of October extremely so.) 



. 146. Spodiopsar cineraceus (Temm.). 



(519.) Large flocks arrive at the end of September and 

 in October, and remain until the end of April. 



147. Spodiopsar sericeus (Gm.). 



(520.) Curiously enough I have never met with this bird 

 on the Yangtse itself, though on the south side of Hang- 

 chow Bay I have seen large flocks in winter, and David met 

 with it as far north as Shensi province. 



148. Pastor roseus (L.). 



The specimen recorded in ' The Ibis,' 1889, p. 446, is still 

 the only one known to have occurred in China. 



Fam. CoRviD^. 



149. CoRvus TORQUATus, Linn. 



(530.) A very common resident. They begin nesting 



