107

ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR.

Tuts handsome bird is of but very unfrequent occurrence —
in this country, but several have been observed in various
counties during the last few years, since more attention
has been paid by many persons to the study of orni- ,
thology. The rose-coloured pastor, or, as it is generally
termed, the rose-coloured starling, is about the size of
the common starling, and will be found to answer to
the following description:—“The head, which has a rather
large crest, neck, wings, and tail of the male, are black,
and the rest of a pale rose-colour, inclining to salmon-
colour, or nearly peach blossom, with the least possible
tinge of orange in it; the black of the head, crest,
and neck is intense and velvety, with exquisite, though
rather obscure, reflections of green and violet. The
female has a shorter crest, and the body more inclining
to grey or brown. The young are brown all over,
mixed with grey, especially on the throat; they want
the crest, and are sometimes like young starlings, but
more round and compact; their legs are dull brown,
whereas those of the old birds are dull red. In Britain
they are very rare stragglers, seen only in the heat of
summer; they are, indeed, only summer migrants in
the south of Europe. In the countries which they do
visit in summer, they and the orioles are of vast service
in destroying the larvee of insects.”

The rose-coloured pastor is an inhabitant of Syria,
Kigypt, and Africa, and occasionally it passes in the
summer info some of the warmer countries which lie
on the north of the Mediterranean, for the purpose of