30 THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 



Jackdaws, Starlings, Tree-Sparrows and Rollers, 

 and every two or three years by Rose-coloured 

 Starlings. In driving across the Steppes between 

 the Danube and the Black Sea, we now and then 

 came upon small flocks of these birds. At a 

 distance they are indistinguishable from Common 

 Starlings ; they run along the ground in the same 

 way, they have the same rapid straight flight, and 

 the same habit of clustering together. On the 

 ground they feed with the same eager anxiety, 

 but frequently perch on the stunted t)ushes, when 

 their pink colour is very conspicuous. 



"The notes of this bird are almost exactly the 

 same as those of the Starling; they chatter 

 together in the same way ; and in confinement 

 the low warble mixed with the chatter is very 

 similar in both species. In most places, where 

 this bird breeds, it is protected on account of the 

 enormous number of locusts it devours. In 

 autumn it takes its toll on the fruit (mulberries, 

 cherries, etc.), but its usefulness in spring is so 

 apparent, that the Greeks and Turks do not 

 begrudge it so small a trifle.- In Asia Minor, as 

 in the Dobrudscha, I had the misfortune to arrive 

 the day after the fair. Dr. Kriiper and I were 



