674 PASTOR BOSEUS. 



Head and hind neck Bandy brown, paling to albescent on the throat ; the crest absent; across the throat and round the 

 lower part of the hind neck a black zone or band defining what would be the edge of the black throat in the adult ; 

 back, scapulars, rump, breast, and abdomen impure roseate, mixed on the back with darkish feathers and washed 

 with a sandy hue ; some of the quills and the wing-covert feathers, as well as some of the tail-feathers and the 

 under tail-coverts, black, the latter broadly edged with white ; the remaining feathers in these parts dun-brown, 

 which is the colour assumed in the nest-plumage. 



Obs. Few species exhibit, in so plain a manner, the change that can be brought about in a bird's plumage by abrasion 

 as the Rose-coloured Starling. "We have only to lift up the feathers in the grey-tipped autumn attire, and we 

 at once discover the brilliant rosy tint of the chief portion of the feather. Mr. John Hancock, one of the most 

 accurate ornithological observers living, in a long article on this species contained in his interesting catalogue of 

 the birds of Northumberland, remarks that the young, after the first moult, when they are in the plumage above 

 described as " Autumn,'" could, in a short time, " with the aid of a pair of scissors, be made to assume the rosy 

 tint and tin*' ^liixy black of the bivi-dinu; birds." He is of opinion that many of the birds said by Jerdon to be in 

 immature plumage on their arrival in India are in reality in the adult autumn dress just after their moult. This 

 may be the case ; but, on the other hand, it must be remarked that young birds of a wandering species do migrate, 

 as a rule, more than adults ; and I suspect that the majority of the " Rosy Pastors " which visit the south of India 

 are young. All the specimens which were procured out of the flock which visited Ceylon in the autumn of 1870 

 were immature, some of them beiug in the act of acquiring their first autumn plumage, which certainly was not that 

 of the adult, for the back-feathers were not rosy enough at the bases and there was no crest. 



Distribution. — The Rose-coloured Starling, in the same mysterious way in which it appears in other 

 countries, has from time to time visited the island in large flocks, consisting of young birds, the time of its 

 arrival, on one or two occasions, having been, singularly enough, during the season that it is said to breed in 

 Western Asia. Layard notices in his catalogue that large flocks appeared at Pt. Pedro during July, when, as 

 Jerdon remarks in the ' Birds of India,' p. 335, the young would only just have been fledged. This circum- 

 stance favours the opinion that the species breeds, as has been stated, in the south of India ; but this fact 

 requires confirmation. Subsequent to the above occurrence, as is also noticed by the same author, flocks 

 appeared at Puttalam ; and Mr. Holdsworth is of opinion that he saw a flock at Aripu in 1856. In November 

 and December (1876) a flock visited the Cinnamon-gardens, Colombo, frequenting the bushes and trees in the 

 " Circular ; " and several specimens were shot, some of which are mounted in the Colonial Museum. As in 

 other instances, the birds remained about for a few days, and then disappeared as suddenly as they came. On 

 inquiry I learnt that a Singhalese, who had shot some of these birds, was acquainted with them, having once 

 or twice seen them in the west of Ceylon prior to that occasion. Captain Wade, 57th Regt., met with a flock 

 at Wackwella, near Gallc, about the same time, and informs me that the natives there said they had never 

 seen the bird before. 



It is difficult to assign any particular region as the home of this singular bird. Its head-quarters 

 may, perhaps, be said to be parts of Western Asia, from Turkestan to the Caspian. To the north-west of this 

 ngion it migrates in vast hordes into Europe, visiting South-eastern Russia, Turkey, and other districts on the 

 .Mediterranean in great numbers, and wandering thence in more or less extensive tribes into Hungary, South- 

 eastern Germany, France, and Spain, into which country it is, as also to Great Britain, a rare visitant; 

 isolated examples have likewise reached Finland, Lapland, and Sweden, but not Norway. Its visits, however, to 

 Europe are uncertain ; it is not looked for as an annual arrival, but surprises people by making a sudden appear- 

 ance in myriads, and after breeding departs as mysteriously as it came. It was first observed in England at 

 Norwood, where an example was killed in 17-12, and noticed by Edwards. It has not unfrequently, according 

 to Mr. Hancock, been procured in Northumberland and Durham; and its occurrence in Cornwall, the Scilly 

 Isles, Wales, and all parts of Scotland is, in accordance with the testimony of numerous observers, recorded 

 in the new edition of Yarrcll by Professor Newton. It makes its appearance in Russia and Turkey in the 

 month of April, which is about the time when it leaves India, after its visit to that country during the cool 

 season, for Western Asia. It breeds, according to Severtzoff, in Turkestan; and the birds which rear their 

 young in that country may be those which have wintered in India. Dr. Scully remarks that it is said to be 

 common in Khokaud and Badakhshan, but that the Yarkandi bird-catchers say it only occurs as a mere straggler 

 in Kasgharia, a few birds being occasionally seen in the summer, after the prevalence of strong north-west or 



