642 



ORIOLE 



ORISSA 



Mi-la, for instance, to within 60 miles of Bogota, 

 tin- capital of Colombia. As a rule the river ll<xxl 

 tin- district* adjoining its Imnks from May to 

 .l.immry, the country under water sometimes 



. ring 100 miles across. 



S,e A. TOD Hnmboldt and Bonpland, Viiyaye au 

 friurtau Continent, vol. ii. ; Sir Hubert Solioiuburgk, 

 Tr;rtlt in (luiana (1840); Miehelma j Roju, Ki- 

 pluracion OJIeial (BnuMlg, 1867); and Ckaflanjon, 

 <..!/< Sendtu of Paris Oeog. Soo. (1887). 



Oriole, a genus (Oriol us) and family ( Oriolidie) 

 of Passerine birds, i-onlim-d entirely to the Old 

 World, and characteristic of the Oriental and 

 Ethiopian regions. The memlien of the family 

 are generally of a hright yellow or golden colour, 

 which is well set off l>y the hlack of the wings. 

 Twenty-four species are enumerated under the 

 genus. The best known is the Golden Oriole ( 0. 

 giilli/n). The adult male is almnt 9 inches long. 

 Its general colour is a rich golden yellow ; the bill 



is dull orange- 

 red ; a black 

 streak reaches 

 from its base 

 to the eye ; the 

 iris is blood- 

 red; the wings 

 are black, 

 marked here 

 and there with 

 yellow, and a 

 patch of yellow 

 forms a con- 

 spicuous wing- 

 spot ; the two 

 middlefeathers 

 of the tail are 

 hlack, inclin- 

 ing to olive at 

 the base, the 

 very tips yd- 



Golden Oriole ( Oriolut galbula ). 



low. the base half of the others black, the other half 

 ydlovv; legs, feet, and claws dark brown. The 

 Jemale is less yellow than the male, and the under 

 parts are streaked with gray. This bird is some- 

 what rare in England, but it is an annual spring 

 migrant to Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, and it has 

 l.i-i -n found nesting in the south-eastern counties. 

 In Scotland, especially in the southern districts, it 

 has been reported several times ; in Ireland it is 

 more rare. In central and southern Euroj>e it is 

 common in summer in certain localities; it is 

 abundant in Persia, and ranges eastwards through 

 central Asia as far as to Irkutsk. It winters in 

 South Africa, where it is found at the Cape, Dain- 

 :ii.il:iinl, Natal, ami Madagascar. In habit it is an 

 unolitrusive bird, fond of the shade of woods, 

 groves, and small ravines, and, although generally 

 accounted very shy, it may be found bnudfag its 

 nest in avenues in towns. Its food consist-, of in 

 aecta and their Un.-e, especially green caterpillars, 

 ami fruits such as currant*, cherries, and mul- 

 berries. The song of the male is short, loud, clear, 

 and llutc like ; he has also a mewing call-note, and 

 a harsh alarm-note. The nest is unlike any other 

 European hint's; it is placed in, and suspended 

 from, a fork in a horizontal brunch, sometimes of 

 mi oak, usually of a pine, in a shady grove or thick 

 wood, and is mode of hark, wool, and grass. The 

 uml>cr four or five, nnd arc of a glossy, white 

 colour, blotched with reddish purple. Oilier orioles 

 an- distinguished by h.-iving black on the head and 

 nape. O. kvniliin partly replaces the golden oriole 

 in Turkestan, and extends eastwards to India. O. 

 itiiiiffii*,fonn<\ in Africa lietween the Sahara and 

 tin- equator, and 0. notntim, found throughout 

 south tropical Africa, have the lesser wing-coverts 

 yellow, not black as in the European and Indian 



birds. The birds called 'Orioles' in the United 

 States belong to an entirely different family, the 

 Icti-ri.l.e. See BALTIMORE BIRD. 



Ori on. in Creek Mythology, an unusually hand- 

 some giant and hunter, the son of llvneus of 

 Hyria, in llo-otia. At Chios he fell in love with 

 Meiope. daughter of (Enopion, but for an at- 

 tempted outrage upon the maiden his eyes were 

 put out by I'ioinsus. Orion recovered his sight by 

 exposing his eyeballs to the rays of the rising sun, 

 and afterwards hunted in company with Artemis. 

 The cause and manner of his death are differently 

 related. Some make ArU-mis slay him with an 

 arrow, because Eos, enamoured of his beauty, hail 

 carried him oil to Orlyyia, and tlierel>\ otiended 

 the godg. Others nay tliat Artemis, viigin goddess 

 though she was, cherished an aliection for him that 

 enraged her brother A|)llo. One day pointing 

 out to her at sea a block object floating in the 

 water, lie told her that he did not believe she could 

 hit it. She took aim and hit the mark, which was 

 the head of her lover swimming in the sea. A 

 third myth makes him find his death from the 

 sting of a scorpion. j-Ksrulapius wished to restore 

 him to life, but was slain by a liolt from /.ens. 

 After his death Orion was placed with his hound 

 among the stars, where to this day the most 

 splendid of the constellations bears his name. 



Orissa. an ancient kingdom of India, the 

 authentic history of which goes back for probably 

 more than one thousand years, extended from Bengal 

 on the N. to the Godavari on the S. The present pro- 

 vince is the extreme south-west portion of Bengal ; 

 on the E. it bos the Bay of Bengal, and on the \V. 

 the Central Provinces. Orissa was long a Buddhist 

 stronghold; in 474 a new dynasty made it Brah- 

 manical, and introduced the worship of Siva; in 

 1132 this was replaced by Vishnuism and another 

 dynasty. It ceased to be an independent state in 

 1568, being conquered and made an outlying pro- 

 vince of the empire of the Great Mogul. Its next 

 masters were the Main at t as, who seized it in 1742 ; 

 but they were forced to surrender it to the English 

 in 1803. At the present time Orissa is divided 

 between the British connnissionership of Orissa 

 and the tributary states, and is accounted part of 

 Bengal Presidencv> The coniniissioncrtJiiii lias an 

 area of 9853 sq. in. and a pop. of (1891 ) 3,789,799 ; 

 the tributary states, a hilly country with dense 

 jungle, lying l.'tween the low coast districts and 

 the interior plateau, has an area of 14,387 sq. m. 

 and a population of 1,696,710. All this region was 

 visited by severe famine in 1868-69. The principal 

 river is tlie Mahanadi, and the chief towns Cut tad,, 

 I'.alasor, and Puri (Juggernaut, q.v. ). The entire 

 district is sacred ground to the Hindus; c\i 

 deuces of the worship of Siva and Vishnu meet 

 the eye at every turn. Great festivals are held in 

 honour of this latter god and of his image called 

 Juggernaut (q.v.). The most interesting of the 

 aboriginal races are the Kandhs (Koiidlm, K bonds), 

 who numlier 280,000, beside* close upon l, r >0,000 in 

 the Central Provinces. Amongst these people agri- 

 en It tire and war are tin-only employments, the menial 

 o Dices of village life being pel formed by a subject, 

 almost slave race. They pay profound reverence 

 to the Mrtfa-gOlL and used to sacrifice human 

 beings to secure his favour, until the practice was 

 suppressed by the British (1837-60). The tribal 

 government is strictly patriarchal. The tribesmen 

 were summoned to arms by messengers (tearing an 

 arrow, who sped from glen to glen, like the liearers 

 of the fiery cross in Scotland. Duelling was 

 formerly in vogue. The irrigation of a large 

 portion" of Orissa is provided for by an extensive 

 and costly system of canals, taken over by the 

 government in 1868. 



