CONCEALED OR COVERED NESTS 111 



and lined with wool and feathers. The equally 

 beautiful Rose-coloured Pastor (Pastor roseiis), like 

 so many of the alhed birds in the family Sturnid^e, 

 conceals its nest in clefts of rocks, or under heaps of 

 stones and loose rock fragments on mountain sides. 

 Rose-coloured Pastors breed in societies in various 

 parts of south-eastern Europe, but rarely if ever 

 return two seasons in succession to the same spot. 

 They place their cup-shaped nests in the crevices, or 

 under rocks and stones, making them externally of 

 dry grass, twigs, straws, stalks and moss, and lining 

 them with finer fibres, leaves, and in many cases 

 feathers. A great many of the species that nest 

 in rocks and under stones occasionally find a suit- 

 able site in holes of trees, whilst an even greater 

 number build their homes in holes of buildings, or 

 amongst masonry or earthworks of some kind. This 

 change of site, comparatively speaking, must have 

 occurred within recent times, and must be taken as 

 another example of that wonderful adaptability dis- 

 played by birds in the matter of their domestic 

 arrangements — another proof that reason is the 

 dominant impulse, and that blind instinct, so 

 popularly invoked as the guiding medium, is a totally 

 erroneous assumption with nothing tangible to sup- 

 port it. There are many other birds that have 

 become in a sense parasitic upon the dwellings or 

 other handiwork of man, although perhaps in every 

 instance the habit has not yet become complete, 



