42 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



not SO easy. Saunders points out that though its pink dress is 

 apparently conspicuous, a flock will suddenly vanish when it 

 dives into a clump of oleanders, with the blossoms of which 

 its colour harmonises. 



In summer the head, neck, breast, wings and tail are glossy 

 black, the rest of the plumage salmon-pink. After the autumn 

 moult much of the gloss and pink is obscured by brown tips to 

 the feathers, which wear off by abrasion in spring. The male 

 has a long and ample crest, partially erectile ; the crest of the 

 female is shorter and her colours duller. The young are brown 

 and gradually acquire the distinctive blacks and pinks. The 

 bill is pink, black at the base, the legs yellowish pink. The 

 irides are brown. Length, 8-5 ins. Wing, 5 ins. Tarsus, 

 i"3 ins. 



Family ORIOLTD.^. Orioles. 

 Golden Oriole. Oriolus oriolus (Linn.). 



The fact that the Golden Oriole (Plate 16) ranks as a rare 

 visitor on migration is not to our credit ; it would be a regular 

 summer visitor if we gave it the chance. At the end of April 

 or beginning of May some reach our southern shores every 

 year, and though a number of these are undoubtedly on pas- 

 sage, others are prepared to nest, and, indeed, have nested or 

 attempted to nest in many southern and eastern counties. So 

 conspicuous a bird as the male soon attracts attention, and the 

 man with the gun almost invariably tracks it down. As an 

 irregular visitor or bird of passage it has occurred in most 

 parts of England, less frequently in Scotland and Ireland. In 

 Europe, except in the extreme north, it is well distributed, and 

 nests in north Africa and eastern Asia, migrating for the winter 

 far south in Africa. 



The male bird is so strikingly yellow that any one can recog- 



