234 ORIOLID.E. 



stragglers being observed almost every year, but always 

 between spring and autumn. This bird makes its annual 

 visit to the European continent from the countries south of 

 the Mediterranean in the month of April, and returns in 

 September. It is at the end of April or the beginning of 

 May that specimens are usually obtained on our southern 

 coast ; and from those that pass over France and Germany 

 in a north-western direction, an example is occasionally pro- 

 cured in the maritime counties of our eastern coast. 



Very little is known of the habits of the Golden Oriole in 

 this country ; for the brilliant plumage of the male always 

 attracts attention, and, though being really far from rare, it 

 is almost invariably pursued with the greatest eagerness and 

 shot down by some of those persons who imagine that they 

 are thereby aiding the cause of natural history ; fortunately 

 greater facilities for its observation occur on the Continent, 

 and in Italy particularly these birds are common. 



Bechstein says, they generally frequent lonely groves, or 

 the skirts of forests, always keeping among the most bushy 

 trees, so that it is rarely seen on a naked branch. They 

 always frequent orchards in the fruit season. Vieillot also 

 says that they frequent wooded countries, are shy and 

 difficult to approach. These birds, he adds, are sometimes 

 deceived by an expert sportsman, who advances towards 

 them whistling their note ; but the ear of the bird is so 

 correct that a single mistake or false note, made in the 

 imitation of his song, is a sufficient hint to the bird, and he 

 takes wing instantly. Swainson, speaking of the habits of 

 the Orioles generally, says, they live in small flocks, fly well, 

 and frequent high trees, among the foliage of which they 

 seek for caterpillars, soft insects, and fruits. 



The Golden Oriole is the only European species of the 

 genus, and its flat and saucer-shaped nest is very difl'erent 

 in the style of its architecture from those of nearly all other 

 birds, being placed in and suspended under the horizontal 

 fork of a bough of a tree, to both branches of which it is 

 firmly attached. The materials used to form the nest are 

 sheep's wool, fibres of roots and long slender stems of grass. 



