214 Sturnidce. 



in 1868 in the parish of Bremhill, at a small farm at the bottom 

 of Bencroft Hill. A third was observed in the gardens of 

 Bannerdown House with a companion, and remained for some 

 days near Box, and was shot under Kingsdown, and is now in the 

 collection of Colonel Ward. A fourth was shot on the western 

 borders of the county, on July 29th, 1869, about two miles from 

 Koad Hill, as I was informed by the Rev. E. Peacock, who was 

 then residing there. It is usually seen associating with the 

 Starlings, to which family indeed it belongs, and which it much 

 resembles in general habits, mode of feeding, etc. Its plumage 

 is exceedingly beautiful in the living bird, but the delicate rose 

 tint, whence it derives its specific name, loses much of its fresh- 

 ness after death, and in course of years fades to a dingy pink. 

 The head, wings, and tail are of a glossy velvet black, with violet 

 reflections, the whole of the under parts and back of a deep 

 rose-red ; the head is likewise adorned with a long pendent crest 

 of loose silky feathers of a glossy black. The legs are very 

 strong, and with the upper mandible of the bill reddish-orange. 

 It is called Pastor, the shepherd or herdsman, from its habit 

 (which it shares with the common Starling) of attending flocks 

 and cattle. Continental naturalists have generally looked upon 

 it as a thrush : thus in France it is Merle coideur de rose ; 

 in Germany, Rosenfarbige Drossel ; in Sweden, Rosen-fdrgad 

 Drossel; and in England it has been styled the 'Rose Ouzel/ 

 It is, however, a true Starling in habits and in feeding, and in 

 Italy is called Storno roseo. In the Ionian Islands, where it 

 frequents the mulberry orchards in large numbers, and does no 

 small damage, it is known to the peasantry as o-tcafjLvocfrdyos, the 

 ' mulberry-eater.' * It is, at the same time, a great consumer of 

 locusts, and for that service to man is highly appreciated. It 

 breeds in large colonies, arriving in enormous multitudes at its 

 nesting- places, amidst suitable rocks or ruins, or in deserted 

 stone-quarries. But for a very interesting and detailed account 

 of the breeding of this bird, which until then had been little 

 known, I must refer my readers to an admirable memoir by 

 Lord Lilford, in Ibis for 1860, p. 137. 



