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 very 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. by 0.63in. ; 0.83in. by 0.6in. ; 0.83in. 

 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- 

 nately, 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 leave the locality 

 altogether." 



When a statement like the above is made about any 

 bird it is generally ridiculed by those who have not 

 themselves observed 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 Gardens in March, 1890, and a pair 

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

 in his " Fremdlandischen Stubenvogel," yet there is no 

 reason why other examples should not come to hand. 



CHAPTER VI. 



ORIOLES (Oriolidce). 



The Orioles were regarded by Seebohm as relatives of 

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

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

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

 purposes Starlings. They are bright-coloured birds, 

 chiefly yellow or scarlet a.nd black, and they form 

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

 with blackish-brown, sometimes with lilacine-greyish 

 shell-markings. Their food consists of injects in all 

 stages, spiders, and small fruits ; and in captdvity a 

 good insectivorous food, with the addition of a few 

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

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

 most dull and 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-NAPED ORIOLE (Oriohis ituHcus}. 



Plumage bright yellow ; the back and wing-coverts 

 greenish ; tips of primary-coverts bright yellow forming 

 a spot of colour; primaries black, tipped and bordered 

 with greenish-yellow ; secondaries broadly margined 

 with pale yellow ; tertiaries with the outer web and part 

 of the inner web greenish yellow ; tail black, the 

 central feathers narrowly tipped with yellow, which 

 increases in width to the outermost feathers, which are 

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

 shoe marking extending from the bill through the eye 

 to the nape : lull pinky-reddish : feet leaden grey; iride.s 

 blood-red. Female more greenish above and generally 

 rather duller than the male. Young above yellowish- 

 green, below whitish with dark shaft-lines; the horse- 

 shoe like marking passing through the eyes and uniting 



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

 widely distributed throughout India, but rare ;. 

 commoner in the countries to the east of the Bav of 

 Bengal, Arrakan, Pegu, and Tena.-.serim, extending to 

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



Neither Jerdon nor Hume giv^s any information 

 respecting the wild life of this species, but Mr. E. i '. 

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

 lowing account of its mdification : 



"I have taken two nests of this Oriole, both of the 

 ordinary cradle-shape and quite indistinguishable tnnu 

 those of 0. melanocephalua and 0. kundoo. Both were 

 built in masses of creepers growing over oaks, which 

 stood in thin forest composed of that species of tree, and 

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

 were only got at after much 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 eg-. 

 this genus, and are spotted in the ordinary way wit!' 

 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 0.76in., and l.OSin. by 

 0.79in. The other two eggs 1 presented to the Asiatic 

 MiiM-um, Calcutta, without measuring them befui 

 doing so, but they were, if I remember rightly, botli 

 larger and longer than those I retained for my own 

 collection." 



Russ gives no information respecting the cage-life of 

 the Indian Oriole. It has been exhibited at the Lo;i-ln:i 

 Zoological Gardens. 



SYKKS' ORIOLE (Oriolus 



Male bright yellow ; wings black crossed by a yellow- 

 bar formed by the primary coverts ; flights tipped a IK: 

 edged with yellow; central ti- il-feathers black, the 

 remainder broadly and increasingly tipped with yellow : 

 a black stripe from base of mandible, extending behind 

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

 irides blood-red. Female more greenish above. Young 

 above yellowish-green ; bright yellow on rump, taps of 

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

 wings olive-brown; remainder of body below whitish 

 .strippd with brown ; bill black. Hah.. India up to base- 

 o'f Himalayas, 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 country in small numbers. It prefers 

 a wel I -wooded 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 l'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-Jw, and the voice of the European Oriole must be 

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

 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 "Illustrations of Indian Ornithology," under 

 0. iixJicux, as follows : 



"It was a cup-nhaped nest, slightly made with fine 

 grass and roots, and suspended from a rather 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 blotches." 



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



