104 GOLDEN ORIOLE. 



but is placed in the horizontal cleft of a branch, 

 and each side is included in the substance of the 

 sides of the nest. The structure, moreover, has 

 the appearance of being delicate and careful. The 

 eggs are of a beautiful clear white, relieved by deep 

 black spots, most numerous on the thicker end. 



The specimens which have been obtained in 

 this country have been all taken at uncertain 

 intervals ; but being a bird of such marked 

 plumage, the occurrence of one is generally 

 heard of. It takes place generally about the 

 time of migration ; and in corroboration, we 

 have it remarked by Mr Couch,* that it occasion- 

 ally alights on the fishing boats. In Scotland, 

 we have very few instances of its capture, Mr 

 Selby mentions that his drawings were made 

 from two specimens in the Edinburgh Museum, 

 shot near the Pentland Hills. In Ireland, Mr 

 Thompson has recorded five different instances. 



The body of the adult male is clear and 

 brilliant yellow ; the wings, and the space between 

 the bill and the eye, deep black ; the quills are 

 edged, and tipped with yellowish white, which 

 sometimes extends to the tips of the secondaries ; 

 the tips of the feathers forming the spurious quills 

 are of the same yellow with the body, forming a 

 triangular spot of that colour when the wing is 

 closed ; the two centre feathers of the tail are 

 entirely black, those on each side black only at 

 the base, the tips yellow, which colour increases 

 in extent towards the outside, the last quill 

 * Fauna of Cornwall. 



