368 STTTBNIDiE. 



gloss. The ground is a very pale greenish blue. A number of 

 fairly large spots and blotches, intermingled with smaller specks and 

 spots, are scattered about the large end, often forming an imperfect 

 irregular zone, and a few similar specks and spots are scattered 

 thinly about the central portion of the egg, occasionally extending to 

 the small end. The colour of these spots varies ; they are generally 

 a brownish-reddish purple and a paler greyer purple, but in some 

 eggs the spats are so thick in colour that they seem almost black. 

 In some they are almost purely reddish brown without any purplish 

 tinge, and some again, lying deep in the shell, are pale grey. 



Six eggs measure from 0-92 to 1-1 in length, and from 0-71 to 

 0-76 in breadth, but the average of six eggs is 1 by 0"74. 



Family STURNID^. 



528. Pastor roseus (Linn.). The Rose-coloured Starling. 

 Pastor roseus {Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 333 ; Hume, Cat. no. 690. 



The Eose-coloured Starling has not yet been discovered breeding 

 in India, but Mr. Doig has written the following note on the sub- 

 ject, which is one of great interest. He writes from the Eastern 

 isarra, in Sind : — 



" Though I have not as yet discovered the breeding-place of this 

 bird, I think it as well to put on record what little J have noticed, 

 in the hope that it may be of assistance in eventually finding out 

 where it goes to breed. I began watching the birds in the middle of 

 April, and every week shot one or two and dissected them, but did 

 not perceive any decisive signs of their breeding until the 10th May, 

 when I shot two males, both of which showed signs of being about 

 to breed at an early date. Again, on the 15th May, out of seven 

 that I shot in a flock, six were males with the generative organs fully 

 developed ; the seventh was a young female in immature plumage, the 

 ovaries being quite undeveloped. The birds were feeding in the bed 

 of a dried-up swamp, along with flocks of Sturnus minor, and were 

 constantly flying in flocks, backwards and forwards, in one direc- 

 tion. Unfortunately, important work called me to another part of 

 the district, and when I returned in a fortnight's time I could not 

 see one. Where can they have gone ? And they remain away such a 

 short time ! 1 have seen the old birds return as early as the 7th July, 

 accompanied by young birds barely fledged, and I should not be at 

 all surprised if these birds are found to breed in some of the Native 

 States on the east of Sind. That they could find time to migrate 

 to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to breed, and return again by 

 the middle of July, I cannot believe, especially after having found 

 them so thoroughly in breeding-time, while still in the east of Sind. 

 Another suspicious circumstance is the absence of females in the 



