tipped with white or pale buff, in the form of arrow-heads,
the triangular spots on the upper parts being larger. These
are carried through the winter, but gradually diminish in
size as spring comes on, so that those on the top of the head,
and lower parts generally, disappear almost entirely before the
following summer. In autumn and winter also the hill is
dusky horn-colour, which brightens into yellow on the approach
of spring. Whether any other change takes place as the
bird grows older may well be doubted.
The female is very similar to the male, but her plumage
is rather less brilliant, and the terminal spots are generally
larger and, especially in spring and summer, more numerous
—not being worn off to the same extent: the bill also does
not assume the same bright yellow.
The young of the year, before the first moult, is of an
uniform greyish-brown above; the wing- and tail-quills
edged with light rufous-brown; the throat dull white, and
the breast and belly clouded with white: the bill dusky
horn-colour, with the gape yellow : legs and toes much as
in the adult but more dusky. In this stage it is the
“ Solitary Thrush” of Montagu*, Bewick and Knapp. As
the nestling plumage is lost that of the adult appears in
patches, presenting a curious mixture.
* Montagu’s specimen is in th e B ritish Museum, a n d leaves no d o u b t on th e
m a tte r. The re a l “ S olitary Th ru sh ” , Monticola cyanus, is a very different b ird
(see vol. i. page 295).
PASSERES. STVRNIDAE.
P a s t o r r o s e u s (Linnseus*).
THE ROSE-COLOURED STARLING.
Pastor roseus.
Pastor, Temminctc^ .—B ill moderate, convex above, s tra ig h t b en ea th , compressed,
th e u p p e r mandible notched an d s lig h tly decurved. Nostrils basal,
la te ra l, oval, p a rtly closed by a membrane covered w ith small fe athers. Gape
an g u la r, an d free from b ristle s. F e a th e rs on th e crown p o in ted a n d elongated,
forming a crest. Wings long, th e first p rim a ry ve ry sh o rt, th e second an d th e
th ir d ne arly eq u al an d th e longest. Tail moderate, re c tric e s s tra ig h t. Tarsus
scutellate in fro n t, covered a t th e sides by a n in d istin c tly divided p la te , forming
a sh arp ridge b ehind. Claws considerably curved.
T h e R o s e - c o l o u r e d S t a r l in g was first noticed as British
by Edwards, who, in 1742, took his representation from
a specimen killed at Norwood, and preserved at a coffeehouse
in Chelsea, where, he says, he “ had liberty to draw
it.” Soon after he mentioned another which was shot in
June 1747 by Mr. Roger North of Rougham in Norfolk.
Latham in 1783 announced that a third example, shot at
* Turdus roseus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 294 (1766).
t Manuel d ’Ornithologie, p. 82 (1815).