ORIOLUS. 501 



are sedentary, others are migratory to a small extent, and one is 

 absent from India entirely during the summer months. The 

 Orioles make cup-shaped nests, which are suspended by the rim 

 from the fork of a branch, and they lay spotted eggs. Their notes 

 are very Ifquid and rich. 



In Oriolus the bill is as long as the head, the culmen gently 

 curved, and the tip notched and bent ; the nostrils are lengthened 

 and exposed ; the rictal bristles are fairly strong ; the head is never 

 crested ; the wing is long :iiid sharp, the first primary longer than 

 half the second ; the tail is much shorter than the wing and slightly 

 rounded ; the tarsus is short and sciitollatod. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Tail black and yellow or green. 

 a'. Nape black, crown yellow. 



a". Outer webs of secondaries and ter- 

 tiaries conspicuously greenish yel- 

 low j all quills tipped yellow. 

 a'". Nape-band much more than half 



inch broad 6. indicus, p. 502. 



b'". Nape-band much less than half 



inch broad O. temtu-ostris, p. 503. 



b". Outer webs of secondaries and ter- 



tiaries black in male, brown in 



female, with hardly a tinge of green; 



tips to quills absent or obsolete. 



c'". Nape- band more than half inch 



broad ; wing about 6 O. macrunis, p. 503. 



d". Nape-band less than half inch 



broad j wing about 5 O. andamanensis, p. 504. 



//. Nape and crown yellow or greenish 



yellow. 

 c". Wing much more than 5. 



e'". Lores black, continued back be- 

 hind the eye O. kundoo, p. 504. 



/'". Lores only black O. galbula, p. 505. 



(/". Wing much less than 5 O. xanthonotus 5 , p. 505, 



c'. Nape and crown black. 



e". Abdomen white streaked with black . 0. .xanthonotus $ , p. 505. 

 f". Abdomen plain yellow O. melanocephalus^. 506. 



b. Tail red O. traittii, p. 508. 



The first eight Orioles on our list may be termed Yellow Orioles. 

 The young of these resemble each other very closely for the first 

 few months, and subsequently pass through similar stages. 



In the nestling, the feathers of the upper plumage are greenish 

 tipped with yellow, and those of the lower white streaked with 

 brown. 



Soon after the young are fully fledged, the yellow tips to the 

 upper plumage drop off, the streaks below become firmer and 

 blackish, and the whole plumage yellower. About the first autumn 

 the black marks on the head which characterize the different species 

 become apparent, as also the yellow marks on the wings and tail. 



