THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 23 



autumn and going south or west. Our British 

 bird stays with us during the winter, and vast 

 flocks of Starlings come to us at this time of the 

 year ; but in Scandinavia and Central Europe, 

 they entirely disappear. The same may be said 

 of the Siberian Starling, which migrates to India, 

 in great numbers, for the winter. The more 

 southern forms migrate to a certain extent, as 

 the Sardinian Starling (5. unicolor), which mi- 

 grates across the Mediteranean to Morocco, and 

 the Purple-backed Starling of Asia Minor (S. 

 purpurascens), which wanders east from the 

 Dobrudscha and Asia Minor to North-western 

 India. 



The Rose-coloured Starling, or " Pastor," as 

 it is sometimes called, is one of the true Star- 

 lings, laying a grey egg, of so pale a colour as 

 to be nearly white. It diifers from the ordinary 

 Starlings in its choice of a nesting place, not 

 seeking the hole of a tree or building in which 

 to build its nest, but breeding in holes of rocks, 

 as a rule, and in large numbers together. At 

 all times the Rose-coloured Starling appears to 

 be a gregarious bird, and its migrations take 

 place in prodigious flocks. 



