136 THE STARLIXGS 



Seen feeding on the ground, the rosy-starling is not unlike the 

 common starling. It runs, with occasional hops if in haste. 1 When 

 the birds are moving in a pack, the hindermost are fond of flying 

 forward to the front rank, to find themselves, in due course, once 

 more in the rear, a mode of progression which must, on the whole, give 

 to all an equal chance of being first served. 2 Saxby, who saw a young 

 male feeding among starlings, and had, therefore, a good opportunity of 

 comparing the two species, observed that it carried the body more 

 horizontally, was lighter and more vivacious in its movements, and 

 that it did not bore in the ground with its bill. 3 



Again, like starlings, flocks of rosy-pastors may, according to 

 Brehm, be seen hawking for flies high in the air. Locusts they will, 

 as already related, strike at in the air, but they eat them only on the 

 ground. Their method is to seize the locust in the beak, rub off its 

 legs and wings, then, with vivacious gusto, swallow it whole or in 

 parts. 4 



In their roosting habits also they resemble starlings. Towards 

 evening, scattered flocks will collect at a common roost, and, before 

 they enter it, go through varied evolutions, which must be even more 

 striking than those described in the previous section, owing to the 

 more brilliant coloration of the birds. An immense flock of them 

 would, one imagines, present at a distance, in certain lights, almost the 

 appearance of a cloud strewn with roses drifting here and there about 

 the sky, and finally falling in a shower to the roost. Once there, the 

 great hosts pour forth their evensong. At dawn, again, they sing before 

 they burst from the trees, band upon band. As is the case with the 

 starling, this exit is not performed without some confusion. Individual 

 birds depart with the wrong flock, discover their mistake, and turn, 

 sometimes dragging back the flock with them to the trees, where their 

 own flock is still perched, calling them with loud unceasing outcry. 

 But matters are in due course righted, or nearly so, and the flocks 



1 Von Nordmann, quoted by Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, iv. p. 22. 



- O. Reiser, Ornis balcanica, II. Bulgarien, p. 82. 3 Birds of Shetland, p. 119. 



4 Naumann, Vogel Mitteleur&pas, iv. p. 24. 



