8 
British Birds. 
The Rose-coloured Starling. 
like the Jackdaw. The eggs, often as many 
as seven, are of a delicate pale blue or bluish 
white. 
The typical Starling (S. vulgaris) has a 
green head as well as green cheeks and throat, 
but a large number of the specimens procured 
in Great Britain, particularly on the east coast, 
have a good deal of purple on the head and 
throat, while the ear-coverts remain green. This 
is probably owing to the crossing of S. vulgaris 
with the Purple-headed Siberian Starling 
( Sturnus menzbieri). 
The Rose-Coloured Starling ( Pastor 
roseus). This is one of the most brightly coloured members of the family, being a 
remarkably handsome bird. It is only an occasional visitor to Great Britain, its 
breeding home being in South-eastern Europe, and its winter home in India, where 
it occurs in vast numbers. It builds its nest in holes of walls or rocks, and is gregarious 
during the nesting-season as well as in winter. The eggs are whitish or pale grey. 
The Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula). Butforthe destruction 
THE ORIOLES. thg brilliant plumage of the Oriole invites, there can be little 
doubt that the species would nest in England, as scarcely any 
spring passes without the bird being observed in our southern 
counties, and it breeds not un- 
commonly on the opposite side 
of the Channel. The nest 
is quite peculiar, being sus- 
pended between a fork at the 
end of a branch, generally of 
an oak-tree. It is a slender 
structure, made of strips of 
bark, which are wound round 
the branch to which the nest 
is attached. The eggs, four or 
five in number, are quite 
unmistakable, being white, 
spotted with black and choco- 
late brown. The winter home 
of the species is in Africa, 
and at this season of the year 
it is found as far south as the 
Cape Colony. 
Family 
ORIOLID/E. 
The Golden Oriole. 
