Pastor. OMNIVORI. PASTOR. 95 
sentation was shot out of a small flock of these birds, and 
young starlings intermixed, upon the sea-coast near Bam- 
burgh Castle, in the month of July 1818. Another male 
bird was taken, about the same time, in a tan-pit near New- 
castle-upon-Tyne; and other specimens are mentioned as 
having been obtained in the neighbourhood of Ormskirk, in 
Lancashire.—It is a native cf the warmer parts of Asia and Foreign 
; Bi Mie : : ocality. 
Africa, where it is very common, living and feeding with the ; 
starling species. It is also a regular periodical visitant in 
Italy, Spain, and the southern provinces of France. In its 
mode of life, it is of great benefit in many countries, by prey- 
ing on the larvee of -particular insects; im the search after Food. 
which it displays great assiduity, and is, on that account, 
highly esteemed and protected by the inhabitants——lIis nest Nest. 
is made in the holes of trees, and in old walls, but the num- 
ber and cclour of its eggs are not mentioned. The young, 
in their nestling plumage, are very unlike the parent birds, 
and greatly resemble the young of the starling. 
Prate 36. Fig. 2 Natural size. 
Upper mandible of the bill, and the point of the lower Generai 
one reddish-orange, the rest black. Irides brown. Head ey 
adorned with a long pendent crest of loose silky feathers, 
fallmg backwards, which, as well as the neck and upper 
parts of the breast are of a velvet-black, with violet and 
green reflections. ‘The whole of the belly and the back 
are of a delicate peach-blossom-red. Wings and tail 
brownish-black, with violet reflections. Under tail-co- 
verts and thighs black. Legs flesh-ved, very strong and 
muscular. 
The female is similar to the male bird in markings, but the 
crest is shorter, and the red less pure in its tint. The 
young of the year have the bill of a blackish-brown 
colour. No crest. Head, and all the upper parts of 
the body hair-brown, tinged with grey. Wing-coverts 
