52 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



sometimes forming a ring round the larger end, and at 

 times spreading over the entire egg. 



" On rare occasions I have noticed a greenish tinge 

 in verv fresh eggs. This. I think, is due to the colour 

 of the" inner membrane, which is generally a very light 

 green, in some very faint and in others more decided ; 

 this tinge seems to disappear after the egg is blown. 



" Very rough measurements are as follows :— 0.9in. by 

 0.63in. ;" 0.83in. bv 0.63in. : 0.83in. by 0.6in. ; 0.83iii. 

 by 0.66in. ; 0.86in" by 0.66in. 

 " " In 1883 I managed to rear a young bird, feeding it 

 on bread steeped in water and lots of flies. 



" It used to fly about my room and the verandah, but 

 always came to me when" I showed it a fly. Unfortu- 

 nat«fy, one day I was rubbing up some brass hinges, and 

 left them to steep in salad-oil, into which a fly fell ; 

 the bird immediately seized and swallowed it, and in a 

 few hours after got" a fit, which recurred several times 

 during the next two days, and on the third day it died. 



"I "have known the old birds forsake a nest after 

 it has been once examined, and even to stop building 

 when it has been observed, and le.ive the locality 

 altogether." 



When a statement like the above is made about any 

 bird it is generally ridiculed by those who have not 

 themselves observe"d it. In the case of our English 

 Wren I have frequently observed the same thing. 



Mr. Cuming presented a male of this species to our 

 London Zoological (Jardens in March, 1890, and a pair 

 in May, 1892, but Dr. Russ does not notice the species 

 in his"''Frem'dlandischen vStubenvogel," yet there is no 

 reason why other examples should not come to hand. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ORIOLES (OrioMcB). 



The Orioles were regai-ded by Seebohm as relatives of 

 the Crows; but, whether related to thera or not, it is 

 certain that they have nothing to do with the so-called 

 Orioles of the New World, which are to all iiitentfi and 

 purpase.s Starlings. They are bright-coloured birds, 

 chiefly yellow or scarlet and black, and they form 

 hammock-like nests, lay white or salmon-pink eggs spotted 

 with blackish-browii," sometimes with lilacine-greyish 

 shell-markings. Their U-xxi consists of insects in all 

 stages, spiders, ajid small fruits ; and in captivity a 

 good insectivorous food, with tire addition of a few 

 living insects and a little fruit daily, suits them well. 

 I have only kept the European species, ajid I find it a 

 most dull a"nd apathetic bird, but possibly this may have 

 been partly due to the fact that it was blind of one 

 eye and had a drooping wing ; as a show-bird an Oriole 

 would be admirable. 



Black-n.\ped Oriole (Oriolus indicus). 

 Plumage bright yellow ; the back and wing-coverts 

 greenish ; tijxs of primary-ooverts bright yellow forming 

 a spot of colour; primaries black, tippwl and bordered 

 with greenifiih-yellow ; secondaries bnadl.y margined 

 with pale yellow ; tertiaries with the outer web and part 

 of the inner w«b greenish yellow ; tail black, the 

 central feathers narrowly tipped with yellow, which 

 increases in width to tlie outenni>st feathers, which are 

 very broadly yellow at the distal end ; a black horse- 

 shoe marking "extending fr<im the bill through the eye 

 to the nape: bill pinky re<ldi,sh : foet leaden grey ; irides 

 blo<Kl-red. Female more greenish above and generally 

 rather duller than the male. Young above yellowish- 

 green, below whiti.sh with dark shaft-lines; the horse- 

 shoe like marking passing through the eyes and uniting 



on tlie nape not or barely indicated; bill dusky. Hab., 

 widely distribut-ed throughout India, but rare ; 

 commoner in the (wuntries to the east of the Bay of 

 Bengal, Arrakan, I'egu, and TenaiSserim, extending to 

 Malacca; appears to be found in China. (Jerdon.) 



Neither Jerdon nor Hume gives any information 

 respecting the wild life of this .-pedes, hut Mr. E. C. 

 Stuart Baker (The Ibis, 1396, p. 332) publishes the fol- 

 lowing account of it* ludificatiun ; — 



■' I have taken two nests of this Oriole, both of the 

 ordinary cradle-shape and quite indi&tinguJshable from 

 those of 0. melanocejjhalus and O. ktindoo. Both wer& 

 built in maeses of creepers growing over oaks, which 

 stood in tliin forest composed of tliat species of tree, and 

 both were at a very great height from the ground, and 

 were only got at after muoh time and trouble had been 

 spent over them. 



" The eggs, of which there Were two in each nest, 

 are of the usual Oriole type ; three have a decidedly 

 pink ground, perhaps rather darker than in most eggs of 

 this genus, and are spotted in the ordinary way with- 

 rather dark reddish-brown. The fourth egg differs only 

 in being rather paler and being rather more sparingly,, 

 though boldly, blotched with a still darker brown. Two 

 of the eggs measure 1.09in. by 0.76i'i., and l.OSin. by- 

 0.79in. The other two eggs I presented to the Asiatic 

 Museum. Calcutta, without measuring them before- 

 doing so, but they were, if I remember rightly^ botii- 

 larger and longer than those I retained for my own 

 collection." 



Russ gives no information respecting the cage-life of 

 the Indian Oriole. It lias been exhibited at the Londoi* 

 Zoological Gardens. 



Sykes' Oriole [Oriolus l-undoo). 

 Male bright yellow ; wings black crossed by a yellow 

 bar formed by the primary coverts ; flight.s tipped anc 

 edged with yellow ; central tail-feathers black, the 

 remainder broadly and increasingly tipped with yellow : 

 a black stripe from base of mandible, extanding behind 

 eye to ear-coverts ; bill deep rose-red ; feet leaden grey . 

 irides blood-red. Female more greenish above. Young 

 above yellowi&h-greeq ; bright yellow on rump, tips of 

 inner webs of tail-feathers, sides of abdomen and vent; 

 wings olive-brown ; remainder of body below whitish 

 striped with brown; bill black. Hab., India up to base- 

 oi Himalay;is, excepting Lower Bengal. (Jerdon.) 



According to Jerdon this bird breeds during the rains 

 in Central India; but "is to be found, at all seasons, in- 

 every part of the countrv in small numbers. It prefers 

 a well-wo<:d_'d country, but not deep forests; and lives 

 in large groves of trees, gardens, and avenues. It 

 chiefly feeds on fruit, especially on the figs of the 

 Banian and I'akur, on mulberries, etc., also occasionally 

 on caterpillars, and other soft-bodied insects. Its flight 

 is strong, but undulating, with interrupted flappings. 

 Its call is a loud mellow whistle, something resembling 

 ■pee-ho : and the voice of the European Oriole must be 

 very similar, as it is given as pvh-lo and biilow; ajid 

 the French name Loriot is said to be also given from 

 its call. 



"I have seen the nest several times, and I described' 

 one in my " Illufctralions of Indian Ornithology," under 

 0. indicus, as follows : — 



" It was a cup-.'-haped nwst, slightly made with fine 

 grass and roots, and suspende<l from a rat-ber high 

 branch by a few long fibres of grass ; these did not sur- 

 round the nest, but only supported it on two sides. It 

 contained three eggs, white, spotted, chiefly at the large 

 end, with a very few large dark purple l>lotohes." 



" I procured a nest at Sangor, from a high branch 



