51 



GOLDEN ORIOLE. 



PLATE CV. 



Oriolus yalbula, PENH AST. MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



THE nest is flat in shape, and placed in the angle formed by the 

 branching boughs of a tall tree, to which it is firmly attached. It is 

 made of stalks of grass, small roots, and wool, cleverly interwoven 

 together, and is lined with the finer portions of the materials. One 

 taken in Kent, is described by J. B. Ellman, Esq., of Eye, in the 

 'Zoologist/ page 2496, as having been suspended from the extreme 

 end of the topmost bough of an oak tree, and composed entirely of 

 wool, carefully bound together with dried grass. 



The eggs are commonly four or five in number, of a white colour, 

 sometimes with a tinge of purple, and a few spots of black, brownish 

 black, or grey, and claret-colour. 



One of a greyish white, speckled with small brown spots. 



A second is also whitish, with large dark brown spots. 



A third is also grounded with pale white, with some small and large 

 spots all over. 



Edwin Cottingham, Esq., of Bexley, has obliged me with a drawing 

 of the egg; and Henry Saxby, Esq., of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 

 with another. J. E. Wise, Esq., of Lincoln College, Oxford, with a 

 specimen of the egg itself. 



