94 On the Ornithology of Wilts \_Corvid(e]. 



" Rose coloured Pastor." {Pastor roseus). This very beautiful 

 bird is extremely rare in England, a few stragglers only having 

 occasionally appeared : it is a native of the hottest parts of Asia 

 and Africa, but migrates northward in summer, and is sparingly 

 scattered throughout the southern countries of Europe every year, 

 the outskirts of the army sometimes penetrating so far north as 

 Britain. One and one only instance I can adduce of its undoubted 

 occurrence in Wiltshire, and that was in 1853, when a specimen 

 was killed by a shepherd on Salisbury Plain near Wilton, and is 

 now in the possession of the Rev. Gr. Powell, of Sutton Veny. 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, &c. Its plumage is exceedingly beautiful in the 

 living bird, but the delicate rose tint, whence it derives its specific 

 name, loses much of its freshness 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, 



CORYID^. (The Crows). 



This is a very large and important family, very numerous too 

 and widely distributed, and most of its members being of consider- 

 able size attract more general attention than the preceding smaller 

 and more retiring birds, and are therefore familiar to the least 

 observant : their general characteristics are stout compact body, 

 large head, thick short neck, beak large straight and pointed, legs 

 strong and well adapted for walking with ease as well as for perch- 

 ing : their flight too is strong and even, and as regards their appe- 

 tite, they seem to devour every thing they meet with, being 

 truly omnivorous, and refusing nothing eatable which comes in 

 their way. From these several properties the Crows have been 



