THE ORIOLES. 43 



Troupial (Icterus vulgaris), in colour much resembling 

 the Black-headed Oriole figured, but with a Starling- 

 like bill and longer tail and legs, has been occasion- 

 ally brought to India, and makes a much nicer pet 

 than any true Oriole. For, charming as they are at 

 large, the Orioles make very poor cage birds, and are 

 not interesting even in an aviary. It will be enough to 

 mention our two commonest species here. 



THE BLACK- HEADED ORIOLE (Oriolus Melanocephalus). 

 This is perhaps the commoner of the two species I 

 am dealing with, being found nearly all over India, be- 

 sides Ceylon and Burma, though it does not go far up 

 the hills. The yellow of its plumage is particularly rich 

 and deep, but the female is not quite so bright as the 

 male. The young have the black head streaked with 

 yellow, and the yellow of the body, which is pale, plenti- 

 fully streaked with black. Their bills also are black, 

 while that of the old bird is a lovely rose-pink. This 

 seems a particularly hard bird to keep in confinement ; 

 common as it is about Calcutta, I have very seldom 

 known it to be successfully caged, even though nestlings 

 are often brought in. 



THE INDIAN GOLDEN ORIOLE OR MANGO-BIRD (Orio- 

 lus kundoo) called Pashnool in Kashmir, is found 

 higher up the Himalayas than the last species, and is 

 spread all over India, but does not extend to the 

 eastwards nor to Ceylon. It is an even more lovely bird 

 than the last, being all yellow on the head as well as 

 the breast and back, except for a black streak on each 

 side of the face. The yellow is also of a lighter but 



