THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 27 



which absolutely carpeted the whole surface. 

 One of these flocks of birds suddenly alighted, 

 like a vast fan dropping on the earth and dappling 

 it with black and pink. Soon they rose again. 

 We returned, and not a trace of a locust could we 

 find (See 'Ibis,' 1882, pp. 410-414, for afull account 

 of this marvellous migration). I may add that all 

 these myriads of birds were in fully adult plumage." 

 Mr. Seebohm, who has had experience of the 

 Rose-coloured Starling in its native haunts, has 

 given the following account of it in his " Birds 

 of Great Britain " : — " The most westerly recorded 

 instance of its breeding in large numbers is in 

 Lombardy, at Villafranca, near Verona. The 

 mystery which for some time shrouded the breed- 

 ing of this species has been at length completely 

 dispelled. The old stories of their breeding in 

 hollow trees, and the modern Greek or Bulgar 

 fables of their boring holes in banks like Sand- 

 Martins, are entirely unsupported by evidence. 

 The Rose-coloured Starling is essentially a Rock- 

 Starling in its breeding habits. When I was in 

 the Dobrudscha, in the spring of 1883, I visited a 

 village about three miles north of Kustendji, 

 where these birds had bred in great numbers the 



