ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR.

THIS 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 ornithology. 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 salmoncolour, 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 larvæ of insects."

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

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ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR.

rearing its young. It is held sacred at Aleppo, on account of the good that it does, in feeding on the locusts, which are so great a pest in those parts of the world.

In the translation of M. Bechstein's work on Cage Birds, it is related that "A sportsman discovered in 1794, in the environs of Meiningen, in Suabia, a flight of eight or ten rose ouzels, moving leisurely from southwest to north-east, and passing from one cherry tree to another. He fired on these birds; only one fell, which was fortunately very slightly wounded, so that it soon recovered. Being immediately carried to M. Von Wachter, the rector of Frickenhausen, this clergyman took the greatest care of it: he gave it a spacious cage; and found that barley-meal, moistened with milk, was as wholesome as agreeable to it. His kindness tamed it in a short time so far that it would come and take from his hand the insects which he offered it. It soon sang also, but its warbling consisted at first of but a few harsh sounds, pretty well connected, however; and this became at length more clear and smooth. Connoisseurs in the songs of birds discover in this song a mixture of many others: one of these connoisseurs, who had not discovered the bird, but heard its voice, thought he was listening to a concert of two starlings, two goldfinches, and perhaps a siskin; and when he saw that it was a single bird, he could not conceive how all this music proceeded from the same throat. This bird was still alive in 1802, and the delight of its possessor."

SQUIRREL PETAURUS.

THIS beautiful little quadruped is an inhabitant of New South Wales, and is said to be very plentiful at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and is called by the colonists the sugar squirrel. Its fur is extremely soft and beautiful, and is occasionally made use of by the natives to form the scanty covering worn by some few among the least barbarous of the race. Could it be obtained in sufficient quantity, it would furnish a very elegant and delicate fur, and might form a useful branch of commerce in that distant and improving colony.

The squirrel petaurus during the day generally remains quietly nestled in the hollows of trees, but becomes lively as night advances, and skims through the air, supported by its lateral expansions, half leaping, half flying, from branch to branch, feeding upon leaves and insects. This peculiar mode of locomotion can scarcely be considered as a true flight, as the folds which serve the purposes of wings, seem more for the support of the animal in its long and desperate leaps, than for raising it in the air and directing its course. It has been doubted, however, whether these little animals are entirely destitute of the power of exercising their will in their flying leaps. The following anecdote bears upon this subject:-On board a vessel sailing off the coast of New Holland was a squirrel petaurus, which was permitted to roam about the ship. On one occasion it reached the mast-head, and as the sailor, who was dispatched to bring it down, approached, made a spring from aloft to avoid him. At this moment the ship gave