544 -Mr. W. Jesse on the 



Park. Tliis pair were of a beautiful ycllowisli stone-colour 

 riehly marked with lilac and brown spots, the former 

 appearing to be below the surfaee, as with Skimmers^ and 

 Terns' eggs. They measured l-21"x-84" and 1-14" x -85". 

 Of another similar pair I received the fragments only, as 

 they struck a branch instead of falling straight into the 

 sheet. This was about August 5th, 1901, and the nest 

 was also in a sheshum. On July 27th, 1901, I found a 

 bird sitting on a single hard-set egg, in a mango-tree. 

 This egg was of a greenish-white colour spotted with brown 

 and lilac, and measured 1*23" x*86". I was surprised to 

 find the nest on this particular kind of tree, for long ago Raid 

 wrote as follows: — ''A peculiarity of this bird is that it 

 rarely alights on mango-trees, preferring to pass over them 

 on its way from one tree to another ; while at other times it 

 may be seen on babool-bushes, evidently oblivious of the com- 

 paratively magnificent mango- trees around.^' I think that 

 Reid was somewhat mistaken in this, for the bird certainly 

 does alight on mangos, though it often seems to prefer other 

 trees, probably because they harbour some favourite insect. 

 The name ^^ Tree-Plover,^'' given to this species by the 

 Martiniere boys, is doubtless due to the colour of the eggs, 

 but I have never yet been able to get an explanation of the 

 term "Rain-bird." Though strictly speaking an arboreal 

 bird J I have constantly seen it descend to the ground, and 

 search amongst the dead leaves for a moment or two before 

 returning to the tree. 



No. 518. OiiioLUs KUNDoo. Indian Oriole. 



Pilak [H.]. 



The Indian Oriole, though a permanent resident, is very 

 scarce during the winter months, when, curiously_, its place is 

 to some extent taken by O. tnelunocephalus. It becomes 

 common about May and breeds during June and July. 

 The nests are cup-shaped cradles suspended in outlying 

 forks of trees, usually, but not always, at some height 

 from the ground. The materials are grass, tow, rags, &c., 

 and the structure is generally well concealed from above, 



