158 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



important of the two. So numerous are our winter 

 bird visitors that it is not feasible to enumerate them 

 in this place ; we must be content with a glimpse 

 at those which come in the greatest numbers and are, 

 therefore, most likely to attract attention. 



The earliest to arrive are the rosy starlings (Pastor 

 roseus) or Gulabi Mainas, or Tilyers as the natives call 

 them. They are easy to recognise. They go about in 

 great flocks. When a flock settles on a tree it is a point 

 of etiquette for all the individuals that compose it to 

 talk simultaneously. The head, crest, neck, throat, 

 upper breast, wings, and tail are glossy black. The rest 

 of the plumage is a beautiful rose colour in the adult 

 cock and pale coffee colour in the hens and young 

 cocks. 



Rosy starlings arrive in Lahore as early as July. 

 As they do not leave us until the end of April, and 

 are supposed to nest in Asia Minor, it might be thought 

 that they are the discoverers of some specially rapid 

 method of nest-construction, egg-incubation, and bird- 

 rearing. This is not so. The fact is they do not migrate 

 simultaneously. The birds that were in Lahore in 

 such numbers last April are not those which appeared 

 in July. These latter probably migrated to Asia Minor 

 in February. 



It is only in the spring that the rosy starlings go 

 about in very large flocks ; these are the result of 

 " packing " prior to migration. At other times the 

 birds occur in nines and tens and associate with the 

 ordinary mynas, feeding either on fruit or grain. 



They appear to be the favourite game bird of the 



