SUMMER VISITORS 103 



over the side of the nest and render him very conspicu- 

 ous. The most expeditious way of finding a paradise 

 flycatcher's nest is to look out for a sitting cock. 

 The alarm note of this species is a sharp harsh Tschit, 

 but the cock is also able to warble a very sweet song. 



The Indian oriole (Oriolus kundoo) is another gor- 

 geous summer visitor to the Punjab. The cock is 

 arrayed in rich golden yellow. His bill is pink and he 

 has a black patch on each side of his head, there is 

 also some black in his wings and tail. The hen is clad 

 in greenish yellow and is neither so showy nor so hand- 

 some. The oriole is commonly called the mango bird 

 by Europeans in India. I have never been able to 

 discover whether the bird is so named because the cock 

 is not unlike a ripe mango in colour, or because orioles 

 are to be found in almost every mango tope. Oriolus 

 kundoo is a bird of many notes. Of these the most 

 pleasing is a mellow lorio, lorio. Another note very 

 frequently heard is a loud but not unmusical tew. The 

 alarm note of the species is a plaintive cry, not easy to 

 describe. It is uttered whenever a human being ap- 

 proaches the nest. The hen alone incubates, but she 

 is not often seen upon the nest, for she leaves it at the 

 first sound of a human footfall. 



The nest of the oriole is a wonderful structure. It 

 is a cradle slung on to a stout forked branch. The 

 bird tears with its beak strips of the soft bark from the 

 mulberry tree. An end of the strip is wound round 

 one limb of the fork, then the other end is passed under 

 the nest and wound round the other limb of the sup- 

 porting bough. If the strip be long enough it is again 



