PASTOR ROSEUS. 



(THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 



Turdus roseus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 294 (1766). 



Pastor roseus (Linn.), Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. S3 (1815) ; Gould, B. of Europe, vol. iii. pi. 212 



(1837); Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1840, xi. p. 23; Blyth, Cat.B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. Ill (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 217 (1854); Horsf. & 



Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 539 (1856); Jerdon, B. of India, ii. p. 333 (1863); 



Gould, B. of Gt. Britain, vol. iii. pi. 55 (1863) ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 157 (1872) ; 



Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 462 ; Dresser, B. of Europe, pt. 21 (1873); Ball, Str. Feath. 



1874, p. 419; Hancock, Cat. B. of Northumb. p. 43 (1874); Ball, Str. Feath. 1875, 



p. 208 ; Butler & Hume, t. c. p. 498 ; Scully, ibid. 1876, p. 164 ; Newton, eel. Yarrell's 



Brit. B. pt. xii. p. 243 (1878) ; Davidson & Wender, Str. Feath. 1878, p. 85 ; Ball, 



t.c. p. 221. 

 The Rose-coloured Pastor, The Pastor of some writers ; Cholum-Mrd, Europeans in Madras ; 



Juari bird in Bombay. Golabi maina. Hind., also Tillyer in the south ; Pariki ipitta, 



Telugu ; Sura kuravi, Tamil ; Bya, Sindh ; Sdch in Turkestan. 



Adult male and female (from a series of European and Indian examples). Length 8-0 to 9-5 inches ; wing 5-0 to 5-4 : 

 tail 3-0 to 3-3; tarsus 1-05 to LI; middle toe 1-0; hind toe 0-55, its claw (straight) 0-3 to (M ; bill to gape 

 1-05 to 1-2. 



Iris brown ; " bill orange-yellow at the base, then pinkish, and brown at the tip " {Jerdon) ; legs and feet dusky 

 fleshy red. 



Autumn "plumage. After the annual moult the head, crest, neck, and throat are black, the feathers tipped with 

 greyish white, almost covering the plumage on the chin, face, and below the ear-coverts ; on the back and breast 

 the bases of the feathers are roseate, and the tips brownish or snuff-colour ; wings and tail black, the feathers 

 margined with greyish. This plumage is retained throughout the winter, at the latter end of which the grey 

 margins of the feathers wear off, and the plumage assumes the pure and brilliant colours characteristic of the 

 species, and which I shall describe as the breeding-plumage : — 



Head with long occipital crest, entire neck clown to the interscapular region above and the centre of the chest beneath 

 glossy purple-black ; back and rump with the scapulars, breast, abdomen, flanks, and lower part of the sides of 

 the neck pale delicate rose-colour ; wing-coverts, innermost secondaries, and upper tail-coverts deep glossy 

 greenish black ; quills blackish, the outer margins glossed with greenish, most conspicuously on the secondaries ; 

 inner webs pale brownish ; tail black, glossed with a less bluish green than the wing-coverts ; under tail-coverts, 

 thighs, and superlying flank-plumes green-black, the longer covert-feathers tipped with white ; under wing 

 blackish brown, the feathers tipped with white, the under secondary-coverts broadly edged with roseate. 



The above description is taken from a beautiful specimen shot in June at Genoa, and in the national collection. All 

 examples killed at the same time, however, are not in such perfect nuptial attire : some have the dark head and 

 throat and the roseate plumage perfect ; but the bases of the body-feathers are more or less black, and there is a 

 black stripe down the inner edge of the scapulars ; the feathers at the edge of the wing above the metacarpus, 

 and those beneath it, as well as the under tail-coverts and lower flank-plumes, are broadly edged with white. 

 Specimens collected in Northern India by Mr. Hodgson are in this plumage ; and I conclude that these must have 

 been procured just before the birds left the country, and while they were acquiring the breeding-attire. 



The female in autumn plumage is duller in colour than the male, but otherwise resembles it ; the crest is said to be 

 smaller. 



Young (Colombo : November 1876). Iris brown ; bill above brownish ; gape and base of upper mandible yellowish, 

 tip of the lower dusky ; legs and feet fleshy. 



4r 



