144 THE GOLDEN-ORIOLE 



the outer webs oil-green, inner dull black. The tail is oil-green, tipped with 

 yellow. The iris is brown. Between this and the adult male plumage are many 

 gradations, the full dress not being assumed till the third year. The juvenile 

 plumage is succeeded, in the males, by a livery resembling that of the female, 

 differing, however, in having the upper parts greener. Throat uniform grey, and 

 the striations on the breast rather heavier. The flanks are as in the female. There 

 is less yellow at the tip of the tail. [w. p. p.] 



2-3. Distribution and Migration. During the breeding season it is 

 found throughout the greater part of the European continent, with the exception 

 of Scandinavia, Northern and Western Finland and Russia north of lat. 60, 

 but is an occasional visitor to S. Sweden. In Asia its range extends to Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Southern Siberia, eastward to the Altai mountains, while in 

 Africa a few pairs nest in the mountains of the North-western States, and an 

 allied race, Oriolus oriolus kundoo Sykes, inhabits India to Afghanistan and 

 Turkestan. To the British Isles it is a fairly regular summer migrant. Begin- 

 ning on the western side, we find that it has occurred nearly fifty times in 

 Ireland, sometimes in small flocks and at other times in pairs, and almost always 

 in the maritime counties, especially along the southern coast from Co. Kerry 

 to Co. Wexford. As most of these occurrences took place in May, and there is 

 only one record of its appearance in June, there is no reason to suppose that it has 

 ever bred in Ireland. But when we come to the Scillies and Cornwall the records 

 become much more numerous. At Trevethoe, near Penzance, it is estimated that 

 forty were seen in April 1870, and it may be described as an annual visitor to Tresco 

 in the Scillies, where a pan- were noted as late as the second week in June 1867. 

 In most of our southern and midland counties there are numerous records of its 

 appearance, while it is a regular migrant in small numbers to some districts of south 

 Kent. Here there is little doubt that it breeds far more commonly than is generally 

 believed. Dr. N. F. Ticehurst 1 says that he has notes of no fewer than sixty-five 

 occurrences since 1834, apart from the actual nesting records, of which there are 

 several. The earliest of these dates back to 1836, at Word, near Sandwich, while 

 others are mentioned in 1840 and 1849 in the same district, and in 1851 a nest and 

 eggs were taken at Wingham. Mr. J. E. Harting z gives an interesting account of a 

 nest with newly-hatched young which he visited in Thanet in 1874, and it is pleasant 

 to be able to state that both in this and the following year the young were hatched 



1 N. P. Ticehurst, A History of the Birds of Kent, p. 110. 



2 J. E. Harting, Our Summer Migrants, p. 268. 



