104 THE GOLDEN ORIOLE 



small piece of white paper on the ground near the 

 thicket whence the sound came, concealed himself, and 

 before long the musician, undoubtedly a male golden 

 oriole (Oriolus galbula), perched on a bough above the 

 paper, eyed it curiously, but did not descend to it. It 

 was in July that I went to the place with my friend ; 

 but the song if song it may be called had ceased, 

 and we could not see the bird nor discover any trace of 

 a mate or a nest. I should add that my friend, 

 although not a professed ornithologist, is a practical 

 sportsman, much interested in wild life and accustomed 

 to watching birds. 



I may be told that the evidence in this case is defec- 

 tive because the corpse of the bird cannot be produced. 

 That might be so if the stranger had been some kind 

 of warbler or wader, genera in which some of the species 

 resemble each other so closely that they cannot be 

 identified with certainty until they are handled. But 

 the male golden oriole wears such conspicuous plumage, 

 head, back, and breast clad in clear golden yellow, 

 contrasting boldly with the sable wing-coverts that it 

 is impossible for any observer of ordinary experience to 

 mistake him for anything else. 



The golden oriole, as well as several other Asiatic 

 and African species, belongs to the order Oriolidce ; but 

 the Baltimore oriole (Icterus baltimwe) has been 

 assigned to a different family Icteridm. The plumage 

 of that species resembles that of the golden oriole in 

 its brilliant contrast of sable and gold, and owes its 

 specific, as well as its popular, name to the fact that 

 those were the tinctures of the arms arid liveries of the 



