134 THE STARLINGS 



THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING 



[F. B. KIRKMAN] 



This beautiful species, easily recognised by its hues of rose and 

 iridescent black, and the erectile crest, has several times been seen 

 (and killed) in Great Britain, where it conies as a stray visitor from 

 the South. Its home may be said to lie in the near East including 

 in this term the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor, but it recognises 

 no fixed boundaries. There and thereabouts it breeds, and thence 

 it wanders on migration in almost every direction. Eastward its 

 flocks pass into India. West and north it spreads into Europe, 

 even straggling as far as the Fgeroes. On the south occasional 

 individuals reach the northern coasts of Africa. Its somewhat erratic 

 movements have yet to be closely studied ; they seem to be largely 

 determined, at least at certain seasons, by the flights of its principal 

 prey the locusts, whose millions it follows in thousands, hunting 

 the pest down without mercy, to the great satisfaction of the popula- 

 tions afflicted. To the Eastern peasant, indeed, the "locust bird," 

 as it is called, seems to be "possessed by some divine fury," to be 

 almost an avenging angel, as with quick beats of its black glancing 

 wings, and with harsh cries, it darts in among the thick insect 

 myriads, striking with such force that the victims fall with heads 

 almost severed from their bodies. Its reputation as an avenger is 

 further strengthened by the fact that it is not content to kill for 

 food, it kills to kill, leaving the slain untouched. 1 



The young wingless locusts, that swarm about the ground, are 

 what appear to appeal most to the appetite of the rosy-starlings. 

 Canon Tristram, when wandering through Syria, came one day upon 

 a patch of some acres almost covered with young locusts. They 

 rose about the feet of the horses like sand-lice on the seashore. 

 After passing through this patch, the Canon looked back, and saw 



1 Ibis, 1883, p. 575 (C. W. Wilson). 



