PiOSE-COLOURED PASTOR 



PASTOR ROSEUS {Linn.). 



Tardus roseiis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 294 (1766). 

 Merula rosea, Naum. ii. p. 206. 

 Thremmaphilus roseus, Macg. i. p. 613. 

 Pastor roseus, Hewitson, i. p. 217; Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 243; 

 Dresser, iv. p. 423. 



Martin roselin, French ; Rosenstaar, German. 



An occasional and irregnlar straggler to our islands. 

 It is somewhat difficult to assign a fixed home to this 

 beautiful species, as it has often appeared and bred in 

 vast numbers in certain spots in Europe and Western 

 Asia, in which it was previously considered a rare 

 visitor. It is extremely common in Northern India in 

 the winter; but, although I have been informed of its 

 breeding in Afghanistan, I am inclined to believe that 

 the centre of its regular breeding-districts is on the 

 upper valley of the Euphrates. 



Enormous flights of this species follow the movements 

 of the locusts, and wherever that disastrous animal 

 appears in swarms, more or less of these birds are pretty 

 certain to follow. In captivity the Pastor is very noisy, 

 quarrelsome, and dirty, a great devourer of all sorts of 

 fruit, especially cherries and mulberries. 



The drawings for the Plate were taken from life in 

 the aviary at Lilford. 



