ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR. 175 



in Dalmatia. " There also appeared,''' says Mr. Cantraine, 

 "great numbers of them in the Island of Pago, near the 

 canal of Novgorod. They were common in Tuscany in 1818. 

 M. Savi says that, in 1789, several pairs of these birds bred in 

 Italy. M. Temminck also adds that the same species occurs 

 from north to south throughout Africa ; but has not yet been 

 found in Japan. 



The Rose Pastor is common in some parts of India. In 

 the Dukhan, according to Colonel Sykes, these birds are so 

 numerous as to darken the air with their flights ; which oc- 

 curring at the period of the ripening of the bread grain, are 

 very destructive in their ravages. 



In its food this species appears to be, like the starling, om- 

 nivorous. Locusts and grain have already been mentioned as 

 very attractive to them : to which may be added fruit. 



Bechstein speaks of a flight of eight or ten of these birds 

 being seen in the environs of Meiningen, in Suabia, in 1 774, 

 moving from south-west to north-east, and passing from one 

 cherry-tree to another. It is to be presumed that they 

 visited the cherry-trees for the sake of their fruit. An indi- 

 vidual of this species was also shot in 1836, in a garden near 

 Swansea, in Glamorganshire, while regaling itself in a cherry- 

 tree : and in the Isle of Wight, one was shot some years ago 

 during harvest, while feeding on the berries of the elder. 



The Rose Pastor, says M. Temminck, builds in holes in 

 trees, and in clefts among rocks : and lays as many as six 

 eggs ; but neither this author, nor any other whom we have 

 consulted, is able to mention their appearance or colour, 

 neither does the season of incubation appear known, which is 

 the more remarkable, as it must naturally take place in the 

 summer ; the season at which, from April to Michaelmas, it 

 chiefly visits our neighbouring European countries, as well as 

 our own. 



Many authors, says M. Temminck, have included this bird, 



