1^22.] the Birds of Sind. 617 



females arrive, and up to this time only an odd young bird in 

 l)rown dress is to be seen ; not till the third week in August 

 do the latter come in any numbers, this was the case in both 

 1918 and 11)19. The movements of the Pastor in winter are 

 local and dependent entirely on food-supply. Usually to be 

 found in cultivation, or where in jungle food may be found, 

 I have occasionally seen them right away on the desert 

 wheie a few scrubby bushes bore some yellow berries. Tliey 

 appear to be omnivorous and are voracious feeders, insect 

 and fruit diets coming alike ; almost any kind of berries and 

 fruits, grubs, " white ants," insects, and especially grass- 

 hoppers and locusts, are partaken of. Where a field of grass 

 is being irrigated, a pink and black cloud of these birds 

 quarrelling and chattering may be seen in attendance on the 

 flooded-out insect life; shortly before they depart thoy gorge 

 themselves on the fruit of Pitheeololnum dulce, swallowing 

 the seed and pericarp indifferently. 



When the Pastors first arrive they are in full but worn 

 breeding-dross and at once begin to moult ; they are not fat. 

 In such birds I have found incubation patches, and both sexes 

 evidently take part. Before they leave they put on an 

 enormous quantity of fat. and in the males the breeding 

 organs become very large — almost to full l)reoding size — 

 very much larger than in all other winter visitors with the 

 exception of Geoffrey 's and the Mongolian San(l[)lovers. It 

 was this unusual enlargement of the testes which led Doig to 

 think that they might breed in Sind ; the ovaries of the 

 females, on the other hand, though enlarged are not so 

 markedly so, and not more so than is usual in other birds 

 which stop late, such as all Waders. From March onwards 

 the Pastor may be heard in song ; between spells of feeding 

 or just before going off to roost a flock will repair to some 

 line of tall trees, and basking in the sun several will start a 

 typical Starling song, though different from that oi'Stianiiis : 

 it is a jumble of discordant grating noises with some rather 

 melodious warbles intermixed. 



When the same food attracts, the Pastor may be fouiul 

 feeding in company with Mynahs and Starlings, but at roost 



