VII. THE ORIOLE. 



" There's a golden bird" Hood. 



GOLDEN indeed is the rich plumage of our Black-headed 

 Oriole (Oriolus melanocephalus), and the prevailing hue is 

 admirably set off by the black hood, wings and tail ; while 

 the pink bill and grey feet add prettily contrasting details 

 to the whole. This fulness of beauty is most characteris- 

 tic of the old cock ; for young birds at first have the yellow 

 body much paler and streaked with black, and the black- 

 head, to equalize matters, duller and streaked with 

 yellow. The bill is also black, and altogether -, al- 

 though as birds go rather showy, they arejaot to be com- 

 pared to their father. Their mother may be like them, if 

 she is still a young thing, but only then. For among the 

 happy birds good looks do not deteriorate with age, and 

 in some cases the gentler sex become much more beautiful 

 with advancing years. And this is one of them ; for the 

 hen Orioles become in course of time almost as brilliant as 

 their mates, merely showing a tinge of green at times in 

 the yellow but the change in their case does not take 

 place so early in life. It is curious to see how Nature is 

 continually striving to bring the hen bird up to her mate's 

 level of beauty ; for the progressive increase of beauty in 

 the hen occurs in several groups, notably in the hawks, 

 This is quite a different thing from the assumption of male 



