162 THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 



during the winter are much thinned by the gunner, who 

 however has great difficulty in approaching them. 



The facile pen of Bishop Mant will again supply us with 

 a poetical picture : 



About the whitethorn's berried bush 

 The Fieldfare and the Redwing Thrush 

 Flit in unnumbered throngs, or speed 

 To rushy fen or plashy mead, 

 Impatient for their insect fare, 

 And darken with their flight the air. 

 What ! do your northern banquets fail ? 

 And, bound upon the autumnal gale, 

 Seek ye beneath our milder sky 

 And warmer sun a fresh supply ? 

 Feed on, while yet the hedge-girt field 

 Rich store of scarlet haws shall yield I 

 Feed on, while yet by frost unbound, 

 Unclothed by snow, the marshy ground 

 Rich store of insect food shall spare. 

 Then southward haste ! but ah ! beware, 

 Lest, joying in your festive cheer, 

 Too long ye tempt the wintry year ; 

 Your flight lest sudden changes bar, 

 Your strength contracting famine mar, 

 And throw you on the stranger's shore, 

 To seek your vernal haunts no more ; 

 No more to cross the tranquil seas, 

 And view your native maple trees, 

 And pines that wave above the rills 

 That fall on huge Norwegian hills, 

 Or roam by lonely Swedish mere, 

 Your groves of branching juniper ! 



THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. Allied to the Rollers, which 

 they resemble in some respects, but more nearly related 

 to the Thrushes, are the Oriolince, or Orioles, which 

 belong chiefly to Africa, the warmer parts of Asia, and 

 New Holland. The only species which appears in Britain 

 is the GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus Galbula), which has oc- 

 curred in several of the English counties, and in Ireland. 

 The bird, which is remarkable for the beauty of its plumage, 

 of a rich yellow or orange colour, relieved with black and 

 grey, is about the size of the Blackbird, stoutly made, 

 with a large head and bill. It makes a flat saucer-shaped 



