OEIOLUS. 507 



i, p. 439 ; id. Cat. no. 473 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 216 ; Barnes, 

 Birds Bom. p. 196. 

 Oriolus himalayamiSjsZ^f/e, Birds Ceyl. p. 358 (1879). 



The Bengal Black-headed Oriole, The Southern Black-headed Oriole, 

 Jerd. ; Pilak, Zardak, Hind. ; Pirola at Goruckpore ; Konda-vanya pandu, 

 Tel. ; Ka-karulla, Cing. ; Mamkoel, Mambala kuruvi, Tarn, in Ceyl. 



Coloration. Male. The whole head, chin and throat, and the 

 upper breast black. With this exception the whole of the body- 

 plumage is bright yellow ; coverts to primaries black, with yellow 

 tips forming a wing-spot ; winglet black ; the upper wing-coverts 

 yellow ; the first primary wholly black, the others black tipped 

 with yellow and obsoletely margined with yellowish white on the 

 outer web ; secondaries and tertiaries black, with broad diagonal 

 tippings of yellow on the outer webs, gradually extending also to 

 the inner web; the last tertiary or two wholly yellow on the 

 outer web ; tail yellow, the middle pair of feathers black on 

 their terminal half, with a yellow tipping, the next pair with less 

 black and a greater yellow tipping, and the third pair with merely 

 a small patch of black on the outer web (absent in very old birds). 

 The shafts of all the rectrices black. 



Female. Resembles the male, but has the yellow of the back and 

 breast less bright with sometimes a tinge of green. 



In the adult the iris is crimson, the eyelids plumbeous, the inside 

 of the mouth flesh-colour, the bill pinkish, the legs plumbeous, and 

 the claws dark horn-colour ; the young have the iris brown and 

 the bill varying from black, when quite young, to pink varied with 

 dusky, when older. 



Length 9*5 ; tail 3'4 ; wing 5'4 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1/3. 



The majority of the members of this species in Ceylon and Southern 

 India are smaller and have less yellow on the wing than birds from 

 other parts, but as some Ceylon specimens can be matched by others 

 from Northern India, I do not propose to keep the two races 

 distinct. 



Birds of this species vary in the greater or less amount of 

 yellow on the tertiaries, these being entirely yellow on the outer 

 webs in some birds and black tipped with yellow in others. The 

 primary-coverts are tipped with yellow in varying quantity, the 

 yellow tips ranging from one third to one half of an inch. The 

 length of wing varies from about 4*8 to 5*5. 



Distribution. The whole of India east of a line drawn roughly 

 from the Sutlej valley through Mount Abu to Kattiwar, not 

 on the Himalayas, however, to any great height, probably not 

 above 4000 feet ; the whole of Assam and the tracts to the south 

 through Burma to Tenasserim, where this species occurs as far 

 south as Mergui ; Ceylon ; the Andamans. This Oriole is every- 

 where a permanent resident in the well-wooded parts of the 

 country. 



Habits, $c. Breeds from April to August. The nest and eggs 

 are similar to those of 0. kundoo. The eggs measure about 1*14 

 by '82. 



