222 
The Birds of India. 
^bc 1B^l•^5 of 3nMa. 
By DouGivAS Dewar, I.C.S. 
Lecture delivered before the Indian Section of the Royal Society of Arts, 
and reproduced by kind permission of the Author and R.S.A.'\ 
From the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 
{Continued frotn pa^e 104.) 
The Rosy Starling. 
The Rose-coloured Starling (Pastor roseus) spends the greater part of 
tlie yearin India, altlioiigh it does not breed there. Tlie bird is said to 
commit " great depredations " in the corn fields, and, since it collects in 
immense flocks preparatory to migration, the charge is well founded. But 
we must not forget that the Rosy Starling feeds also on grass seeds, insects, 
and wild fruit, especiall3' the mulberry, which grows without cultivation in 
India. In the United Provinces it is called the Mnlberr}' bird on account of 
its fondness for that fruit. Chesney states that in Persia it is known as the 
Locust bird. This name speaks for itself, and shows that the bird is by no 
means an unmixed evil. On the evidence at present available I do not 
think we are justified in setting down the Rosy Pastor as a foe to the 
husbandman. It should be added that many natives of India eat it. 
Finches. 
As regards the finches, we may neglect the Amadavats {Spoyaeginthiis 
ainandava) and the other tiny species, which do not devour anything so 
large as a grain of corn. The Weaver Birds (Ploceus baya), however, eat 
wheat, and Messrs. Haagner and Ivy I notice state that the African species 
do damage to the crops. But it is my opinion that in India Weaver Birds 
subsist, by preference, on the seeds of the various species of tall grasses so 
common in that countr)'. I do not know from observation on what they feed 
their young, but, from the fact that they nest in the rainy season, I infer that 
the young are reared on insect food. It is, therefore, my belief that Weaver 
Birds ought to be numbered among the friends of the Indian husbandman. 
Their relatives, the Yellow Corn Buntings, near relations of the English 
Yellowhammer, may prove to be his foes, since they do not breed in India. 
They visit Hindustan in large flocks in winter, and levy toll on the ripening 
corn, but they, like the Weaver Birds, appear to eat this only when grass 
seed is ;iot available. Moreover, it is not improbable that they devour 
insects. Thus the case against them is "not proven." 
The Rose-finch {Carpodactis e>ythri>tus)\i!, another winter visitor which 
feeds upon the grain crops, but it rarely occurs in sufficient numbers to do 
much damage, and, as is the case with its relatives, it seems more partial 
to the seeds of grass than to those of cultivated crops. Jerdoii states that 
ill South India he has observed it chiefly in bamboo jungle, feeding on the 
seeds of bamboos, whence the Telegu name — '■ Bamboo-sparrow." 
