GOLDEN ORIOLE. 243 



throat, breast, and under surface of the body, dull greyish 

 white, streaked longitudinally with dark brown on the 

 shafts of the feathers ; sides of the body and flanks yellow, 

 streaked with dark brown ; under tail-coverts pure yel- 

 low ; under surface of tail-feathers yellow mixed with dull 



According to Mr. Macgillivray, " the young, in its first 

 plumage, is of a dusky yellowish grey tint above, each 

 feather having the central part greyish brown ; the lower 

 parts yellowish white, each feather with a central brown 

 line ; the sides and lower tail-coverts bright yellow ; the 

 wings and tail brown, marked with yellow, as in the adult. 

 The male is easily distinguished from the female by its 

 lighter colour." The irides are brown ; the beak dark grey. 



After the first moult, the young resemble old females. 



In the Rev. Dr. Thackeray's British killed specimen, 

 which had not attained the truly adult male livery, the 

 upper surface of the body is tinged with wine yellow : the 

 scapulars and a few feathers on the centre of the back 

 streaked with black ; the wings not so decidedly black : 

 the spurious wing-feathers are slightly tipped with greyish 

 white, not bright yellow, on the distal half of their length, 

 as in the old male first described ; the quill-feathers with 

 narrow lighter-coloured outer margins and tips : the fea- 

 thers of the tail have the proximal two -thirds black, the 

 rest yellow : under surface of the body yellow, tinged with 

 green, and still retaining faint indications of darker streaks 

 in the direction of the shafts of the feathers. 



Mr. Hoy agrees with me in considering that the male 

 does not obtain its brilliant yellow and black plumage until 

 the third year. This gentleman in one of his letters states, 

 " some pairs are observed breeding, in which you can 

 scarcely distinguish male from female ; others still further 

 advanced, but the plumage is not bright." This, it will be 



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