THE ORIOLE. 41 



one species, the Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula), an even more 

 beautiful bird than the subject of this article, has bred, but 

 cannot establish itself on account of persecution. This 

 Oriole is a rare winter-visitor to our North- West, but 

 has a resident relative ranging all over India, which closely 

 resembles it the yellow-headed mango-bird (Oriolus kun- 

 doo). Both have yellow instead' of black heads, and only 

 differ in some slight details of marking, and in the fact that 

 the migratory bird has, as one would expect, longer wings. 

 I don't remember ever seeing this mango-bird in Calcutta, 

 but it is very likely to occur here. The black-headed 

 species has an even wider range than the Indian Golden 

 Oriole, for it extends into Burma as far as Tenasserim. In 

 Southern India and Ceylon it gets smaller and has the 

 black wings less varied with yellow than is the case here- ; 

 but Orioles do nob give much scope for variation they are 

 just yellow and black birds as a rule, and there is an end of 

 it. It is a curious fact that, although their food seems 

 simple enough, Orioles don't bear confinement well, our 

 black-headed one especially, and one seldom sees them 

 caged. Our only species which is not black and yellow, 

 the Maroon Oriole (Oriolus traillii] of the hills, is an excep- 

 tion and will thrive and keep in good condition where the 

 golden birds would be miserable scare-crows. Although 

 the Orioles have such a wide range in the Old World, they 

 have never penetrated into the New, the American birds 

 .commonly so called really belonging to a very different 

 family, the Troupials. They reproduce the real Oriole 

 colours and patterns to a remarkable extent, but are 

 different in form and habits, being in these respects some- 



