EOSE-COLOUEED PASTOE.
PASTOR ROSEUS {Linn.).
Turdus roseus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 294 (1766).
Merula rosea, Naum. ii. p. 206.
Thremmaphilus roseus, Macg. i. p. 613.
Pastor roseus, Hewitson, i. p. 217; Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 243;
Dresser, iv. p. 423.
Martin roselin, French; Rosenstaar, German.
An occasional and irregular straggler to our islands.
It is somewhat difficult to assign a fixed home to this
beautiful species, as it has often appeared and bred in
vast numbers in certain spots in Europe and Western
Asia, in which it was previously considered a rare
visitor. It is extremely common in Northern India in
the winter; but, although I have been informed of its
breeding in Afghanistan, I am inclined to believe that
the centre of its regular breeding-districts is on the
upper valley of the Euphrates.
Enormous flights of this species follow the movements
of the locusts, and wherever that disastrous animal
appears in swarms, more or less of these birds are pretty
certain to follow. In captivity the Pastor is very noisy,
quarrelsome, and dirty, a great devourer of all sorts of
fruit, especially cherries and mulberries.
The drawings for the Plate were taken from life in
the aviary at Lilford.
'ASM
R O S E - C O L O U R E D PASTOR.
(Pastor roseus.)