124 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



of journeying from London to Kamsgate merely to look 

 at a nest ; but if he be an ornithologist he will know 

 that Golden Orioles' nests are not to be seen in this 

 country every day, and that when found they are worth 

 ' making a note of.' Often as I had seen the bird and its 

 nest on the Continent, it had never been my good fortune 

 until last July to meet with it in England. Indeed, the 

 instances in which nests of the Oriole have been found 

 here and recorded are so few that they may be easily 

 enumerated. 



" The nest which I am now enabled to record was 

 placed in a fork of a very thin bough of an elm tree at 

 a considerable height from the ground, and almost at 

 the extremity of the branch, so that it was impossible to 

 reach it except by cutting off the branch near the trunk. 

 Happily, in this case, there was no need to reach it, and 

 the finder was enabled to ascertain when the young were 

 hatched by sending a man up the tree high enough to 

 look into the nest without disturbing it. A few days 

 before his first ascent there had been a strong wind 

 blowing for some time, and the slender branch was 

 swayed to and fro to such an extent that, notwithstand- 

 ing the depth of the saucer-like nest, one of the eggs was 

 jerked out upon the grass below and broken, though not 

 irreparably so. AVhen I saw it it was in two pieces, but 

 unmistakably the egg of an Oriole, in size equal to that 

 of a blackbird, but shining white, with black or rather 

 dark claret-coloured spots at the larger end. It has been 

 carefully preserved by Mr. Tomlin. 



"As long as his man remained in the tree the hen 

 bird continued to fly round, uttering at intervals a loud 

 flute-like note, and occasionally making a curious noise, 

 such as a cat makes when angry. 



