160 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



lands these flights associate with rooks and jackdaws, feeding with 

 them, and leading the way to another place when disturbed. They 

 are also frequently seen in the company of lapwings, whose move- 

 ments when on wing they appear to control with diverting 

 accuracy. A dozen Starlings will often lead through the air for 

 miles two or three hundred of these birds. 



In sultry weather I have often observed Starlings flying in 

 circles at some height from the ground, and snapping at 

 insects, on which they appeared to prey with great persever- 

 ance upwards of an hour at a time. They appear to practise 

 this habit only on very hot days when flies are found in swarms. 

 As a set off to this useful occupation, however, these birds are 

 known to search for and deliberately devour the eggs of birds 

 which breed on the ground, such as larks and yellow ham- 

 mers. I confess that on first hearing this accusation brought 

 against the Starling I was reluctant to entertain it, but subsequent 

 observation has convinced me that when opportunities offer, the 

 Starling, besides devouring eggs, will not hesitate to prey upon 

 newly hatched birds. I have seen it repeatedly alight on the 

 rough stones of a house to which it clung while it thrust its head 

 and neck into a hole and dragged from it in succession five young 

 sparrows, which it leisurely swallowed on the roof of the house. 

 I have more than once been a witness to such thefts when sta- 

 tioned at a window only a few feet distant from the nest. Similar 

 observations have been made by Mr John Levack in Cumbrae, 

 some of the attacks of the Starling, witnessed by that gentleman, 

 being indeed even worse than what I have narrated ; and bearing 

 such facts in mind, it may not be out of place to suggest that 

 certain limits should be fixed to the protection now afforded to 

 this bird, seeing that its habits bear so close a resemblance to 

 those practised by its relatives of bad repute. 



THE ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR. 

 PASTOR ROSEUS. 



THIS beautiful bird has occurred in almost every county of Scot- 

 land, from Berwickshire to the Orkneys on the east, and from 

 Wigtown to Sutherland on the west; but I have not heard of its 

 occurrence in any of the outer islands. Jn 1853 a pair male 



