THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 



Pastor roseus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 19. 



This beautiful bird,' an irregular wanderer to our shores, was unknown as a 

 British species until 1742. Since that date it has frequently been noticed as a 

 visitant to our shores. 



Its breeding headquarters are in Western Asia, although sometimes vast 

 numbers nest in Southern Europe, and migrating eastwards, pass the winter in 

 India. 



The favourite food of the Rose-coloured Starling, or Rose-coloured Pastor as 

 it is sometimes called, is the locust, which accounts for the erratic movements of 

 this species. 



An account is given in the Zoologist for 1878, p. 16, furnished by Edoardo de 

 Betta, of a great visitation of these birds to the castle of Villafranca in Italy during 

 the summer of 1875. 



Arriving at first in small numbers, they rapidly increased until it was estimated 

 that some twelve or fourteen thousand birds had occupied the building. 



They at once began their nests, and as soon as the young were able to fly, dis- 

 appeared as suddenly as they came. 



The nest, loosely constructed of dead grasses, is sometimes placed in a cranny or 

 recess in a wall, at others among heaps of stones on the ground, and contains five 

 or six smooth and shining bluish-white eggs. 



The notes of this bird are very like the Starling's. 



The female resembles the male in colour, but is duller. 



I. 



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