that is not the case, for the former are generally the first to
arrive and he wisely concludes that additional observation is
needed to explain the mutual relation of the events. Another
matter wTorthy of further attention is the fact that these birds
have been frequently observed to affect trees or shrubs bearing
rose-coloured flowers—as Nerium oleander and Bobinia
viscosa—among the blossoms of which, so like in tint to part
of their own plumage, they may easily escape notice.
That these nomadic hordes visit Asia Minor and Europe
from the east is unquestionable. In Africa the species is
unknown save as a rare straggler to Egypt or Algeria. In
Palestine its appearance, though often in large - numbers, is
very uncertain. Of its movements further eastward we
have little continuous knowledge till we reach India, over
nearly the whole of which it regularly appears, generally in
the cold weather, but to this there are a few singular local
exceptions, which at present seem inexplicable, and it strays
occasionally to Ceylon and the Andamans. Frequenting
some parts of the country in myriads, and at times doing
great damage to the grain-crops, it has long attracted attention,
yet hitherto it is not known to have bred there, and
the prevalent belief, that it arrives in India from the westward,
is probably correct. Yet it is reported by Dr. Severzov
as breeding over the whole of Turkestan, though we find no
evidence of its occurrence in the countries immediately west
of the Indus except Mesopotamia, the north-western corner
of Persia, and Armenia. yVe are therefore wholly ignorant
of the route taken by the flocks which visit India.
Returning to Europe we have proof of' its irregular
appearance in almost every country. Apart from Southern
Russia, Turkey and Greece, in which it occurs most abundantly,
flocks of from one hundred or more occasionally
shew themselves in the eastern parts of the Austrian
dominions, and smaller parties at rarer intervals penetrate
further northward and westward. In Russia it has occurred
at Saratov, and single birds have not only reached Finland,
but, as has been known since the days of Linnseus, even
Lapland. Several examples have been killed in Sweden,
though none are recorded in Norway. To the southward its
appearance in Italy has been already noticed. It has not
unfrequently been taken at Malta ; in Provence it occurs
nearly every year, and, though a rare visitant to Spain, has
at least once reached Seville. The whole number of recorded
captures throughout Europe from Switzerland to Denmark
and the shores of the North Sea and the Channel is by no
means, however, so great as in the British Islands—a fact
probably due in part to the greater publicity given to such
events here than on the Continent, and in part also to the
circumstance of its generally appearing at a season when in
most countries the use of firearms is forbidden.
In the adult male in summer the bill is rose-coloured,
except at the base of the lower mandible, where it is almost
black : irides deep red-brown : head, neck and upper tail-
coverts, black, glossed with violet-blue ; wing-coverts black,
with glossy reflections of purplish-blue and green, according
as the light strikes them ; wing- and tail-quills black
with a steel-blue gloss; back, scapulars, and rump, pale rose-
pink ; chin and throat purplish-black; breast, sides and
abdomen, rose-pink; inner wing-coverts greyish-black edged
with rose-colour ; thighs and lower tail-coverts black : legs
and toes yellowish-brown ; claws darker brown.
The whole length is eight inches and a half; from the
carpal joint to the tip of the wing, five inches.
The adult female, at the same time, resembles the male,
but wants the black patch at the base of the bill, has a
shorter crest, and less bright tints ; the inner wing-coverts
and lower tail-coverts are generally edged with dull white.
In the young of the year, the bill is yellow at the base,
brown along the culmen and at the point: there is no crest:
the whole of the upper parts nearly uniform light greyish-
brown, faintly striped on the top of the head with a deeper
shade ; the wings and tail a dark brown, the feathers edged
with dull buffy-white; chin and throat dull white, the latter
with indistinct brown stripes; the rest of the lower parts
dull buffy-white, tinged on the flanks with ashy-brown;
legs, toes- and claws, brown.