674 
PASTOE EOSEUS. 
Head and hind neck sandy brown, paling to albescent on the throat ; the crest absent ; across the throat and round the 
lower part of the hind neck a black zone or baud defining what would be the edge of the black throat in the adult ; 
back, scapulars, rump, breast, and abdomen impure roseate, mixed on the back with darldsh feathers and washed 
with a sandy hue ; some of the quills and the wing-covert feathers, as well as some of the tail-feathers and the 
under tail-coverts, black, the latter broadly edged with white ; the remaining feathers in these parts dun-brown, 
which is the colour assumed in the nest-plumage. 
Obs. Few species exhibit, in so plain a manner, the change that can be brought about in a bird’s plumage by abrasion 
as the Eose-coloured Starling. We have only to lift up the feathers in the grey-tipped autumn attire, and we 
at once discover the brilliant rosy tint of the chief portion of the feather. Mr. John Hancock, one of the most 
accurate ornithological observers living, in a long article on this species contained in his interesting catalogue of 
the birds of Northumberland, remarks that the young, after the first moult, when they are in the plumage above 
described as “ Autumn,” could, in a short time, “ with the .aid of a pair of scissors, be made to assume the rosy 
tint and fine glossy black of the breeding birds.” He is of opinion that many of the bii'ds said by Jerdon to be in 
immature plumage on their arrival in India are in reality in the adult autumn dress just after their moult. This 
may be the case ; but, on the other hand, it must be remarked that young birds of a wandering species do migrate, 
as a rule, more than adults ; and I suspect that the majority of the “ Eosy Pastors ” which visit the south of India 
are young. All the specimens which were procured out of the flock which visited Ceylon in the autumn of 1876 
were immature, some of them being in the act of acquiring their first autumn plumage, which certainly was not that 
of the adult, for the back -feathers were not rosy enough at the bases and there was no crest. 
Distribution . — The Rose-coloured Starling, in the same mysterious way in which it appears in other 
countries, has from time to time visited the island in large flocks, consisting of young birds, the time of its 
arrival, on one or two occasions, having been, singularly enough, during the season that it is said to breed in 
Western Asia. Layard notices in his catalogue that large flocks appeared at Pt. Pedro during July, when, as 
Jerdon remarks in the ‘ Birds of India,’ p. 335, the young wonld only just have been fledged. This circum- 
stance favours the opinion that the species breeds, as has been stated, in the south of India ; but this fact 
requires confirmation. Subsequent to the above occurrence, as is also noticed by the same author, flocks 
appeared at Puttalam ; and Mr. Holdsworth is of opinion that he saw a flock at Aripu in 1856. In November 
and December (1876) a flock visited the Cinnamon-gardens, Colombo, frequenting the bushes and trees in the 
“ Circular;” and several specimens were shot, some of which are mounted in the Colonial Museum. As in 
other instances, the birds remained about for a few days, and then disappeared as suddenly as they came. On 
inquiry I learnt that a Singhalese, who had shot some of these birds, was acquainted with them, having once 
or twice seen them in the west of Ceylon prior to that occasion. Captain Wade, 57th Regt., met wdth a flock 
at W'ackwella, near Galle, about the same time, and informs me that the natives there said they had never 
seen the bird before. 
It is difficult to assign any particular region as the home of this singular bird. Its head-quarters 
may, perhaps, be said to be parts of Western Asia, from Turkestan to the Caspian. To the north-west of this 
region it migrates in vast hordes into Europe, visiting South-eastern Russia, Turkey, and other districts on the 
^Mediterranean in great numbers, and wandering thence in more or less extensive tribes into Hungary, South- 
eastern Germany, France, and Spain, into which country it is, as also to Great Britain, a rare visitant; 
isolated examples have likewise reached Finland, Lapland, and Sweden, but not Norway. Its visits, however, to 
Europe are uncertain ; it is not looked for as an annual arrival, but surprises people by making a sudden appear- 
ance in myriads, and after breeding departs as mysteriously as it came. It was first observed in England at 
Norwood, where an example was killed in 1742, and noticed by Edwards. It has not unfrequently, according 
to Mr. Hancock, been procured in Northumberland and Durham ; and its occurrence in Cornwall, the Scilly 
Isles, Whales, and all parts of Scotland is, in accordance with the testimony of nunmrous observers, recorded 
in the new edition of Yarrell by Professor Newton. It makes its appearance in Rnssia and Turkey in the 
month of April, which is about the time when it leaves India, after its visit to that country dm-ing the cool 
season, for Western Asia. It breeds, according to Severtzoff, in Turkestan ; and the birds which rear their 
young in that country may be those w'hich have wintered in India. Dr. Scully remarks that it is said to he 
common in Khokand and Badakhshan, but that the Yarkandi bird-catchers say it only occurs as a mere straggler 
m Kasgharia, a few birds being occasionally seen in the summer, after the prevalence of strong north-west or 
