118 JOURNAL, BOMBA Y NA TURAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



I have carefully studied the variations in the bill of this bird and 

 have come to the following conclusions : Nestlings have the whole bill 

 a blackish-brown, the gape yellow. In the autumn of the first year the 

 bird has the bill a dull dark brown, the basal third alone being of a 

 dull livid blue. 



In the male of the second year the bill becomes brighter and only 

 the terminal third is a dark brown. In the third year, the whole bill 

 becomes a bright mauve-blue with merely the tip of both mandibles 

 black. 



In females the oldest birds have their bills almost as blue as the 

 males, but it is more of a livid than a mauve tint. 



Family Oriolidce. 



(215) Oriolus indicus. — The Black-naped Oriole. 



Oates, No. 514 ; Hume, No. 471. 



I have taken two nests of this bird, each containing two eggs. The 

 nests in no way differed from those of 0. melanoceplialus and were 

 built in creepers hanging very high upon lofty trees in situations 

 extremely difficult to get at. 



The eggs are of the usual oriole type, three have a decidedly pink 

 ground and are marked in the ordinary way with rather dark reddish- 

 brown, and the fourth only differs in being paler and rather more bold- 

 ly and sparingly blotched with a darker brown. 



This species is not rare here during the months of December, Janu- 

 ary and February; but the birds which were taken with the two nests, 

 above mentioned, are the only ones I have seen between March and 

 October. 



Two of the eggs measure r09"X'76" and l*05">r79". 



The other two eggs I sent to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, without 

 measuring them first ; but, if I remember rightly, they were rather 

 larger than those in my own collection. 



(216) 0. tenuirostris. — The Burmese Black-naped Oriole. 

 Oates, No. 515; Hume, No. 471 Ter. 



Very rare here and I have but seldom met with it. The only eggs 

 I have seen were a pair brought to me in Silchar, together with the 

 remains of the parent birds. 



They are small eggs, measuring only l'Ol" X "74" and '98" X '73", 

 and in colour they are a very faint pinky- white, boldly marked with 



