240 MERULID^E. 



species is various, consisting of insects and their larvae, with 

 figs, cherries, grapes, and other fruits in their season. 



The voice of the Oriole is said to be loud : Bechstein 

 considers it to be full and flute-like ; its call -note, he says, 

 is well expressed by the term puhlo. The Spaniards call 

 this bird Turiol ; the French, Loriot ; the English, Oriole ; 

 all of which are said to have some resemblance to the 

 sound of the bird's call-note, and to have given origin to 

 its name.* 



In April, 1824, a young male in its third state of plum- 

 age was obtained at Aldershot in Hampshire. When shot, 

 it was in company with some Blackbirds. This specimen 

 was purchased and preserved for the Rev. Dr. G. Thack- 

 eray, the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, by whom 

 it has been most obligingly lent me for my use in this 

 work. Two examples are recorded by Dr. Moore to have 

 been killed in Devonshire. By a communication from Mr. 

 Couch of Polperro, I find that several specimens have been 

 obtained in Cornwall ; Montagu, in his Supplement, also 

 mentions two instances ; and Mr. E. H. Rodd has sent me 

 a notice of one shot in 1833 near the Land's End. Pen- 

 nant has recorded one shot in South Wales. One was 

 shot in Gorton Fields, near Manchester, in July, 1811 ; 

 and another was shot in Quermore Park, near Lancaster, 

 which is now preserved in the Museum of that town. For 

 this last communication I am indebted to Mr. T. Howitt, 

 jun. From Mr. Thompson's contributions to the Natural 

 History of Ireland, we find that five specimens have been 

 obtained in different parts of that country since the year 

 1817. 



* The generic term, however, like that of Icterus, for a genus closely 

 allied, is probably intended to have reference to the prevailing yellow 

 colour of the birds. 



