ORIOLE. 



353 



membrane ; the feet have three toes to the front and 

 one to the rear, the outer one joined to the middle 

 one at its base ; the wings are of moderate length, 

 with the first quill shorter than the second, and the 

 third the longest in the \viug. 



In some respects the orioles bear a resemblance to 

 the thrushes ; but still the differences between them 

 are such that they cannot be brought into one genus. 

 They are more decidedly woodland birds than the 

 thrushes are, and they perch and also build their 

 nests in more elevated places. They also belong to 

 more southerly climates than the thrushes, and are 

 more migratory than the typical species of these. 

 They generally live in pairs, and construct their 

 nests with great neatness, working an external basket 

 of vegetable fibres, which they afterwards line with 

 softer and wanner matters, such as down, feathers, 

 and the substance of spider's webs, the last of which 

 are often found in great abundance, and of no incon- 

 siderable strength, in the places which these birds 

 inhabit. 



Their feeding is indiscriminately animal and vege- 

 table; but, when they have recourse to the latter, 

 they prefer such substances as are soft and succulent, 

 such as different sorts of berries. Their animal food 

 consists indiscriminately of insects, small mollusca, 

 and worms. They are all tolerably well characterised 

 both by their expression and by the colours of their 

 plumage. Yellow and black are the prevailing colours 

 of the males; and greenish-yellow and blackish those 

 of the females. The young males resemble the females, 

 and do not acquire the characteristic dress of their 

 own sex until the third year. We shall very shortly 

 notice the leading species. 



O. galbula the European Oriole is one of the 

 most showy of European birds, though it is rather 

 confined in its distribution, and does not make its 

 appearance in Britain, except as a very rare straggler. 

 On some parts of the continent it is plentiful, how- 

 ever ; and it is especially so in German}', which is, 

 generally speaking, a well-wooded country, and which 

 opens up a passage for birds of an eastern migration, 

 as well as for those which migrate in the direction of 

 the meridian. Those eastern birds are not so ready 

 to come to Britain as the birds of the south, even 

 though they should naturally belong to more tempe- 

 rate climates. Eastern birds find their way across 

 the narrow seas between Europe and Asia Minor ; 

 whereas birds that come from the southward of the 

 Mediterranean must take the breadth of that sea in 

 some longitude or other, and there are but few islands 

 on the way to serve them as resting places. Hence 

 we find that the southern bird, after passing over one 

 sea, hesitates much less in taking its flight over ano- 

 ther, than a bird which has made the greater part of 

 its journey over land. 



The colours on the male bird of the European 

 oriole are fine yellow and pure black. The first occu- 

 pies both the upper and under parts of the body, with 

 the exception of a little spot of black on each side of 

 the upper mandible above the eye. The prevailing 

 colour of the wings and tail is black, with a yellow 

 spot on the middle of the wing, slight margins of 

 whitish yellow to the tips of the quills, arid the tail 

 black with a whitish-yellow border to the feathers, with 

 the exception of the two middle ones. The bill of 

 the male bird is red. The female is olive green on 

 the upper part, and grey mottled with yellow and 

 small black lines on the under part. These birds are 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



so plentiful in Germany and some parts of France, 

 that they are sometimes styled German thrushes. In 

 France and various other parts of the European con- 

 tinent the golden oriole resides during the summer, 

 and breeds there. About the end of May it is seen 

 in the neighbourhood of Paris, and it generally takes 

 its departure about the beginning of September. 

 When they first arrive, they are so fatigued and 

 emaciated that the sportsman finds them an easy 

 prey, for, when they are feeding, he can approach 

 within gunshot of them before they attempt to rise. 

 Soon after their arrival, however, they commence 

 pairing. They pass Malta in September on their 

 way to more southerly climates, and return by the 

 same route to their northerly habitations in the spring, 

 lletzius informs us that they visit Swedish-Finland 

 about the latter end of May, and leave that locality 

 towards the middle of September. There are not 

 many well-authenticated instances of their appearance. 

 Insects, worms, and caterpillars constitute a conside- 

 rable portion of their food, but they have also a great 

 partiality to cherries, berries, and other sweet fruits. 

 Their nest has the appearance of a shallow basket. 

 It is suspended by the edge from the forked end of 

 some slender twig or branch. It is a remarkably 

 neat and highly-finished structure. The forked ends 

 of two branches are wreathed together with vegetable 

 fibres, the two extremities of the branch being con- 

 nected for the purpose of forming the base of the 

 nest. The straws are then neatly adjusted and curi- 

 ously interwoven from one side to the other, and 

 forming a cavity in the centre. As the work pro- 

 ceeds, the structure is thickened with the finer grasses 

 intermixed with mosses and lichens ; and, to complete 

 the work, it is finely lined with the most delicate sub- 

 stances that can be procured, such as the silken bags 

 of the chrysalides of moths, spider's webs, and other 

 soft materials. So soon as this luxurious habitation 

 is completed, the female deposits her eggs, which are 

 generally four or five in number. They are of a dirty 

 white colour, mottled with blackish-brown spots, 

 which are thickest at the larger end. The sitting 

 lasts twenty-one days. The parents are very bold 

 and courageous in defence of their young, which they 

 feed on caterpillars, bringing generally not fewer than 

 ten or a dozen of these to the nest at a time. Such 

 is the parental affection of the female for her progeny, 

 that she has been known to suffer herself to be cap- 

 tured rather than abandon her post while in the act 

 of incubation. This bird has a loud shrill and some- 

 what disagreeable note, which is preceded by a kind 

 of mewing sound. In captivity it rarely lives above 

 two years, and it is not tamed without a good deal of 

 difficulty. When in this state, it is subject to a gout- 

 ish affection in the feet, which generally terminates 

 its existence. When fed with a plentiful supply of 

 figs, grapes, berries, and other sweet fruits, it is 

 reckoned a great delicacy as human food. As we 

 noticed, these birds are very lean and exhausted on 

 their arrival from the south, which appears to esta- 

 blish the fact that they do not quit their southern 

 abodes until they are actually driven by famine. On 

 their return southward, however, they are in far better 

 condition, and the people of Italy and, also of Egypt, 

 eagerly seek after them for the table. According to 

 the ordinary British notions of dainty fare, they would 

 not be highly prized ; because they belong to the 

 omnivorous section of birds, the flesh of most of which 

 is unpleasant both to the sight and to the taste. 

 Z 



