Golden Oriole. 139 



Besides the occurrences enumerated above, I have a very inter- 

 esting communication from Mr. Isaiah M. Jupe, of Mere, dated 

 May 19, 1858, in which that gentleman says: 'On the 12th of 

 April, 1858, a man of this town (Mere) seeing what he considered 

 a blackbird on its nest, shot it as it flew off, and on account of 

 its ring brought it to me as a curiosity, and I immediately 

 secured its nest and two eggs. The nest was in a thick thorn 

 hedge, close to our Castle Hill ; the eggs, in appearance, similar 

 to a blackbird's, but smaller, and not so pointed ; the nest also 

 resembles the blackbird's.' Both bird and eggs were preserved. 

 This is the only instance I have of the King Ouzel being known 

 to breed in this county, though, from its great resemblance to a 

 blackbird, it may easily be overlooked. Mr. Morres, too, heard 

 rumours of a nest having been found near Bath, but could not 

 obtain sufficient evidence to verify the statement. My friend-, 

 Colonel Ward, however, reported to me a Ring Ouzel, or ' black- 

 bird with a necklace,' as one of his family styled it, as frequent- 

 ing his lawn at Bannerdown, near Bath, July 3, 1879, when it 

 should have been, and perhaps was, engaged in rearing its young 

 brood. In the Marlborough College 'Nat. Hist. Soc. Reports/ 

 there are several notices of the nest being found in Savernake 

 Forest : in 1866, May 4 (p. 25) ; April 30 (pp. 62, 65, and 66) ; in 

 1868, May 4 (p. 94). It is, however, much more common in the 

 wild mountainous and stormy districts of the north than in this 

 county. 



38. GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus gcdbula). 



This splendid bird, with its bright yellow and black plumage, 

 so conspicuous from the striking contrast of the two colours, is a 

 rare visitant in Britain, but once seen, it can never be mistaken : 

 it is a denizen of warm latitudes, Asia and Africa being its proper 

 habitat, and it is only occasionally that a straggler finds its way 

 to our coasts, and then so attractive is its bright plumage that it 

 cannot escape observation, and has no chance of avoiding capture 

 or death. My first record of its occurrence in this county is of 

 very many years ago, when two males were taken in the neigh- 



