THE GOLDEN ORIOLE | 3 



FAMILY ORIOLIDiE 

 THE GOLDEN ORIOLE 



ORIOLUS GALBULA 



Plumage golden yellow ; lore, wings and tail black, the tail yellow at the tip. 

 Female : — olive green above, greyish white tinged with yellow beneath, 

 and streaked with greyish brown ; wings dark brown, the quills edged 

 with olive grey ; tail olive, tinged with dark brown. Length ten inches 

 Eggs white with a few isolated dark brown or black spots. 



This brilliant bird, resembling the Thrushes in form and habits, 

 but apparelled in the plumage of the Tropics, would seem to have 

 no right to a place among British birds, so little is its gorgeous 

 livery in keeping with the sober hues of our other feathered denizens. 

 There can, however, be no doubt of the propriety of placing it among 

 our visitors, though it comes but seldom and makes no long sta}'. 

 It is a visitor to the southern seaboard counties and often seen in 

 Cornwall and the Scilly Isles. Were it left unmolested, and allowed 

 to breed in our woods, it is probable that it would return with its 

 progeny, and become of comparatively common occurrence ; but 

 though there are on record one or two creditable exceptions, when real 

 naturalists have postponed the glory of shooting and adding to 

 their collection a British specimen, to the pleasure of watching its 

 ways on British soil, yet its biography is not to be written from 

 materials collected in this country. On the European continent 

 it is a regular visitor, though even there it makes no long stay, 

 arriving in the beginning of May, and taking its departure early in 

 autumn. It is most common in Spain, Southern France, and Italy, 

 but is not unfrequent in many other parts of France, in Belgium, 

 and the south of Germany, and Hungary. 



' His note', says Cuthbert Collingwood, ' is a very loud whistle, 

 which may be heard at a great distance, but in richness equalling 

 the flute stop of a fine-toned organ. This has caused it to be called. 

 Loriot in France. But variety there is none in his song, as he never 

 utters more than three notes consecutively, and those at intervals 

 of half a minute or a minute. Were it not for its fine tone, there- 

 fore, his song would be as monotonous as that of the Missel Thrush, 

 which in modulation it greatly resembles.' 



The nest of the Oriole is described as a marvel of architectural 

 skill, excelling in elegance of form, richness of materials, and delicacy 

 of workmanship combined with strength. It is overlaid externally, 

 like that of the Chaffinch, with the silvery white lichen of fruit trees, 

 which gives it the appearance of being a part of the branch which 

 supports it. But the mansion of the Oriole is more skilfully con- 

 cealed than that even of the Chaffinch. The latter is placed on a 

 branch, of which it increases the apparent size, and so attracts 



