BIRDS 



OF 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 



ORDER PASSERES 



FAMILY ORIOLID^. 



THIS famil}^ consists of a tropical group of brightly coloured birds in whicli 

 yellow and black, or scarlet and black, are the prevailing hues. Although 

 in the general form of their heads they somewhat remind one of Starlings, 

 they must not be confounded with the so-called "Orioles" of the New World, 

 which belong to the family IdcridcE or Hang-nests and Troupials, a group of birds 

 linking the Finches and the Starlings, and feeding largely upon seeds and insects. 

 The late Henry Seebohm was of opinion that the Orioles were nearly related 

 to the Crows ; he, therefore, placed the genus Oriolus in his Subfamily Corvince, from 

 which he said that they chiefly differed in their exposed nostrils, although he 

 admitted that the tarsus might perhaps be slightly shorter, and the prevailing 

 colours different ; whilst the sexes also were dissimilar.* 



In addition to the above distinctive characters, the third primary of the wing 

 (not the fourth or fifth) appears to be the longest, in the Orioles; whilst the 



* The fact that they hop when on the ground, would hardly serve to distinguish the Orioles from the 

 Crows; for anyone who has watched a Raven, must have been vastly amused by its ungainly hopping in all 

 directions. 



Vol. II. B 



