28 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



nesting is also very peculiar, the nest being suspended in the 

 fork of a branch. 



Tilli GOLDEN ORIOLES. GENUS ORIOLUS. 



Oriolus, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 160 (1766). 



Type, O. galbula (Linn.). 



THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. ORIOLUS GALBULA. 

 (Plate K) 



Oriolus galbula^ Linn., S. N., i., p. 160 (1766); Dresser, B. 

 Eur., iii., p. 365 (1875) ; Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 233 (1877 ) ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., iii., 191 (1877); B. O. U. 

 List Br. B., p. 36(1883); Seeb., Hist. Br. B., i., p. 589 

 (1883); Saunders, Man., p. 137 (1889); Lilford, Col. 

 Fig. Br. B., pt. ix. (1888). 



Adult Male. Golden yellow ; wings black, with a yellow 

 speculum caused by the tips of the primary coverts ; the 

 secondaries edged towards the tips with yellowish white ; tail 

 black, the feathers tipped with yellow, increasing towards the 

 outermost one, which is yellow with a black base ; bill dull 

 red ; feet leaden grey ; iris blood-red. Total length, 9 inches ; 

 culmen, i'o; wing, 5-9; tail, 3-1; tarsus, o'8. 



Adult Female and Young Birds. Similar to the male above, but 

 below greyish white, streaked with black on the throat and 

 breast. The statement that the old female is entirely yellow 

 and black like the male has not yet been fully confirmed. 



Range in Great Britain. Rare visitor to most parts of England 

 and Ireland, and seldom found in Scotland, but a regular 

 migrant to Cornwall and the Scilly Islands in spring. 



Range outside the British Islands. Breeds throughout Europe 

 and below the Baltic, extending to Lat. 63 in South Finland 

 and in Russia to 60 N. Lat. east to Russian Turkestan and 

 the Altai Mountains. Its place in Central Asia is taken by 

 the Indian Oriole (O. kundod), a species very like O. galbula, 

 but having the black coral spot extended beyond the eye. 

 The furthest south-eastern range with which we are ourselves 

 acquainted is Fao, in the Persian Gulf, whence specimen? 



