ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 23 



Tchernavoda and Kustendji ; but I had the misfortune to drop upon a blank 

 year. The railway from Tchernavoda to Medjidi is across a series of 

 swamps full of reeds some twelve feet high. Ducks and Geese come down 

 here to feed, and the Great Reed-Warbler and the Bearded Tit make the 

 reeds their home. Now and then a Purple Heron, a Stork, or a Demoiselle 

 Crane gets up, and Marsh-Harriers range over the swamp. On -the out- 

 skirts of the reed-bed luxurious grass grows, leading up to perpendicular 

 cliffs from 50 to LOO feet high. Some of these are white chalk, and some 

 consist of a buff calcareous conglomerate ; but most of the cliffs are sandy 

 earth, full of Bee-eaters' holes. The valley is about a mile wide, and has 

 evidently within a comparatively recent date, geologically speaking, been 

 the main mouth of the Danube. The lakes north and south of Kustendji 

 are as evidently the silted-up mouths of the various arms of the river 

 which formed the ancient delta of the Danube, which was probably 

 destroyed by the drifting sand driven by the east winds from the shores of 

 the Black Sea. Where the cliffs are rock the action of the water, and 

 possibly of the ice, has hollowed them into caverns and ledges and holes, 

 usually tenanted by Jackdaws, Starlings, Tree-Sparrows, and Rollers, and 

 every two or three years by Rose-coloured Starlings. 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, &c.) ; 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. 

 They fixed upon some village unknown as a central breeding-place, and 

 more than 200 of their eggs were brought in to Mr. Gonzenbach ; but all 

 his information being Greek, he was unable to find the locality. After 

 many inquiries we succeeded in discovering it amongst the hills. It 

 appeared to be deserted, not a soul could we find ; everybody was down in 

 the valley harvesting. At last we met an old man travelling with a mule, 



