THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 137 



to drive the depredators away. The moment the sun appears above the horizon 

 they are on the wing, and at the same instant shouts, cries, and the cracking of 

 the long whips, resound from every side. The Tillyers, however, are so active, 

 that if they are able to alight on the stalks for an instant, they can pick out 

 several grains. About 9 or 10 o'clock a.m., the exertions of the watchmen cease, 

 and the Tillyers do not renew their plundering till evening. After sunset they 

 are seen in flocks of many thousands retiring to the trees and jungles for the 

 night. They prefer the half ripe Jowaree whilst the farinaceous matter is still 

 soft and milky." 



It must not, however, be supposed that the Rose-coloured Pastor is altogether 

 injurious to agriculture : on the contrary it does good service by its wholesale 

 destruction of locusts and other noxious insects. Seebohm gives the following 

 account of it in his History of British Birds : " In driving across the steppes 

 between the Danube and the Black Sea we now and then came upon small flocks 

 of these birds. At a distance they are indistinguishable from common Starlings ; 

 they run along the ground in the same way, they have the same rapid straight 

 flight, and the same habit of clustering together. On the ground they feed 

 with the same eager anxiety, but frequently perch on the stunted bushes, when 

 their pink colour is very conspicuous. The notes of this bird are almost exactly 

 the same as those of the Starling, they chatter together in the same way, and in 

 confinement the low warble mixed with the chatter is very similar in both species. 

 In most places where this bird breeds it is protected on account of the enormous 

 number of locusts it devours. In autumn it takes its toll on the fruit (mulberries, 

 cherries, etc.) ; but its usefulness in spring is so apparent, that the Greeks and 

 Turks do not begrudge it so small a trifle. In Asia Minor, as in the Dobrudscha, 

 I had the misfortune to arrive the day after the fair. Dr. Kriiper and I were 

 informed by our friend Guido von Gonzenbach that the Rose-coloured Starlings 

 had bred in the previous spring (1871) in enormous numbers in the neighbourhood 

 of Smyrna, and had devoured the grubs and locusts to the admiration of the 

 peasantry." 



The nest of the Rose-coloured Starling is built in holes or crevices in rocks, 

 heaps of stones, earth-cliffs, quarries, walls, and old ruins, and is said to be strongly 

 constructed, not unlike that of a Blackbird ; but at times a mere accumulation of 

 sticks, straws, and various dead plants, with a central depression for the eggs 

 lined with plant fibre, leaves, moss, and feathers. The eggs number from five to 

 six, and are glossy white with the faintest bluish tiuge. 



This species appears to be single-brooded ; the hen is a close sitter and is fed 

 upon the nest by the male bird, chiefly with locusts. 



