OEIOLUS. 



357 



and so securely fixed that it could not have been removed till the 

 supporting bands had been cut or rotted away. The eggs were 

 white, with a few dark claret -coloured spots." 



Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing from Afghanistan : "At 

 Shalofyan, in the Kurrum valley, in June, I found them in great 

 numbers : some were breeding ; but as I saw quite young birds, it 

 is probable that the nesting-season was nearly over." 



Colonel Butler contributes the following note : " The Indian 

 Oriole breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa in the months of 

 May, June, and July. I took nests on the following dates : 

 " 24th May, 1876. A nest containing 1 fresh egg. 

 "29th ' , , 3 fresh eggs. 



" 12th June , ,2 much incubated eggs. 



" 12th . , 3 fresh eggs. 



"13th , , 2 



"10th , , 3 



"29th , , 2 



"29th , , 2 



"29th , 3 



"3rd July 2 



"6th , 3 



"30th , 2 



" The nest found on the 24th May was suspended from a 

 small fork of a neem-tree about ten feet from the ground, and was 

 very neatly built of dry grass (fine interiorly, coarse exteriorly), 

 old rags, and cotton (woven, not raw). The rim was firmly bound 

 to the branches of the fork with rags and coarse blades of dry 

 grass. It is an easy nest to find when the birds are building, as 

 both birds are always together and keep constantly flying to and 

 from the nest with materials for building. The cock, as before 

 mentioned, always accompanies the hen to and from the nest 

 whilst she is building ; but I do not think he assists in its construc- 

 tion, as I never saw him carrying any of the materials, neither have 

 I ever seen him on the nest. On the contrary, whilst the hen is 

 at the nest building he is generally waiting for her, either on the 

 same tree or else on another close by, occasionally uttering his well- 

 known rich mellow note. On the 29th May I sent a boy up a 

 tree to examine a nest. The hen bird had been sitting for a week, 

 and was on the nest when the boy ascended the tree. The cock 

 bird flew past, and being a brilliant specimen I shot him, thinking 

 of course that the nest contained a full complement of eggs. To 

 my astonishment, however, though the hen bird sat very close, 

 there were no eggs in the nest, and although she returned to it 

 once or twice afterwards, she eventually forsook it without laying. 

 Possibly she may have laid, and that the eggs were destroyed by 

 Crows. In addition to the materials already mentioned, this nest 

 was also composed of tow, string, and strips of paper, all neatly 

 woven into the exterior, and many of the other nests mentioned 



