416 



In Northern and the northern part of Central Europe it has not been known to occur; 

 but, according to Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye, a solitary example was obtained in the 

 month of May by M. Jouffret at Draguignan, in the Department of Var. In Portugal it is, 

 however, Professor Barboza du Bocage states, common; and Dr. E. Key writes (J. f. O. 1872, 

 p. 146) that he saw a flock of about twenty individuals in the valley of Lagos, in that country; 

 and as they were going in and out the crannies of the rocks, he thinks that they were breeding 

 there. I found it common near Madrid, in Spain ; and Lord Lilford informs me that he found 

 it "very abundant in Andalucia; it breeds in the holes of old buildings, under the eaves of 

 houses, and also (but, I think, not so frequently) in hollow trees. Its habits seem to resemble 

 very closely those of Sturnus vulgaris, which in Southern Spain is a winter visitor, the present 

 species being a constant resident. At Aranjuez we shot a bird which looks very like a hybrid 

 between the two species ; but the natives declared that ' Estomino,' as they call S. vulgaris, never 

 remained in the country during the summer. S. unicolor is common enough in New Castile, but 

 becomes scarcer to the north of the Guadarrama, and I do not recollect to have noticed it in 

 Aragon, Navarre, Catalonia, or in the Basque provinces." Mr. Howard Saunders also informs me 

 that " this species arrives in Spain in spring, and takes the place of S. vulgaris, which is the sole 

 representative of the genus from autumn to that time. The ' tordo,' as the Spaniards call 

 S. unicolor (distinguishing it from 8. vulgaris, which is ' estornino '), is abundant from spring to 

 autumn from Andalucia to Galicia ; but on the east coast it is much rarer, and even at Granada 

 it is not very numerous. In some parts this species frequents the dove-cotes in great numbers ; 

 and it is also found breeding about the houses in large towns and cities ; it is also very partial to 

 holes in trees in the woodlands. Its flight is remarkably rapid, far more so than that of the 

 common species. The keeper of the lighthouse on the summit of the island of Dragonera, 

 against which numbers of birds dash themselves during the night-flights, told me that out of the 

 basketfuls of birds he had picked up, he never knew a 'tordo' that had not its skull completely 

 fractured owing to the velocity with which it struck the glass of the lantern, whereas many of 

 the Common Starlings and other birds were merely stunned. In Catalonia and the Eastern 

 Pyrenees it is rare ; only one specimen is recorded as having occurred at Perpignan." 



In Italy it is common. Salvadori writes (J. f. O. 1865, p. 276) that he never met with it 

 in the more elevated portions of the country, but always in the plains, where they search for 

 insects with the Crows in damp places. At night they leave the fields and pass the night on 

 roofs of houses. He observed them in the pigeon-caves at Cape St. Elias, near Cagliari, in 

 company with Columba livia and Cotyle rupestris. 



Malherbe (Mem. Ac. Boy. Metz, 1843, p. 133) states that it inhabits the mountainous 

 districts in the interior of Sicily, and is common at Lentini, Caltagirone, Troina, &c, where it 

 is sedentary ; and Lord Lilford found it common and sedentary in the Island of Sardinia. It 

 has occurred in Malta, as Mr. C. A. Wright writes (Ibis, 1864, p. 56) that " Schembri includes 

 this species from two specimens shot out of a flock of five or six many years ago." Neither 

 Von der Miihle nor Lindermayer ever observed it in Greece; but Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1860, 

 p. 137) met with it at Corfu. It is said to have occurred in Southern Germany; but Naumann 

 (Vog. Deutschl. xiii. p. 231) speaks with doubt of its having occurred in Dalmatia and Hungary, 

 and apparently has no particulars as to any specific instance of its capture. Canon Tristram met 



