344 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV III. 



found within a yard or two of the Oriole's nest. It is my beliof that 

 the Oriole deliberately elects to build near a Kino-crow's castle for 

 the sake of the protection afforded by the pugnacious little drongo. 

 Not that the Oriole is unable to look after itself ! I am pretty certain 

 that all the Orioles leave Lahore during the winter months, I have 

 looked carefully for two winters without seeing a single specimen. 

 The Black-headed Oriole is not found in Lahore. Humes writes of 

 the Indian Oriole {N. and E. Ind. Birds, Vol. I., p. 354) :— " In 

 Southern and Eastern Bengal it only, so far as I know, occurs as 

 a straggler during the cold season, and I have no information of its 

 breeding there. It does not apparently ascend the Nilgiris, and 

 throughout the Southern portion of the peninsula it breeds very 

 sparingly, if at all; indeed it is just at the commencement of the 

 breeding season when the mangoes are ripening that Upper India is 

 suddenly visited by vast numbers of this species migrating from 

 the South." It nests in the lower ranges of the Himalayas, up to 

 about 4,000 feet. Dr. Scully writes:— "The Indian Oriole is a 

 seasonal visitant to the valley of Nepal, arriving about the 1st of 

 April and departing in August." Col. Biddulph states that it is a 

 common summer visitant to Gilgit, appearing about May 1st. Hutton 

 records : — " This is a common bird in the Doon, and arrives at 

 Jerripani, elevation 4,500 feet, in the summer months to breed." 

 Bingham writes : — " The Indian Oriole builds at Allahabad and at 

 Delhi from the beginning of April to the end of July. In the cold 

 weather this bird seems to migrate more or less, as but few are seen and 

 none heard during that season." Fulton writing of Chitral says: — 

 (B.N.H.S. Journal, Vol. XVI., p. 349) " Very common. A summer 

 visitor arriving in large numbers during the beginning of May and 

 leaving in August or September," It is also only a summer visitor to 

 Quetta ; the same applies to Darbhanga. 



On page 253 of Vol. XV. of this Journal Ferguson cites Oriolvs 

 kundoo as one of the migrants that may be found in the hills aud low 

 country of Travancore from the beginning of September to the enc 

 of April, yet he seems to contradict himself by saying on page 461 of 

 the same Journal that the bird is a permanent resident of Travancore. 

 Major Baker describes it as a "rare visitor " to Singapore. The above 

 facts afford to my mind conclusive proof that the Indian Oriole is a 

 migrant, and that it migrates in a northerly and southerly direction. 



