544 Mr. W. Jesse on the 
Park. This pair were of a beautiful yellowish stone-colour 
richly marked with lilac and brown spots, the former 
appearing to be below the surface, as with Skimmers'' and 
Terns' eggs. They measured 1-21" x '84" and 1-14" x -85". 
Of another similar pair I received the fragments only, as 
they struck a branch instead of falling straight into the 
sheet. This was about August oth, 1901, and the nest 
was also in a sheshum. On July 27th, 1901^ I found a 
bird sitting on a single hard-set e^^, in a mango-tree. 
This egg was of a greenish-white colour spotted with brown 
and lilac_, and measured 1*23" x '86". I was surprised to 
find the nest on this particular kind of tree, for long ago Reid 
wrote as follows : — '^^A peculiarity of this bird is that it 
rarely alights on mango-trees, preferring to pass over them 
on its way from one tree to another ; while at other times it 
may be seen on babool-bushes, evidently oblivious of the com- 
paratively magnificent mango- trees around.^'' I think that 
Reid was somewhat mistaken in this, for the bird certainly 
does alight on mangos, though it often seems to prefer other 
trees, probably because they harbour some favourite insect. 
The name ^' Tree-Plover," given to this species by the 
Martiniere boys, is doubtless due to the colour of the eggs, 
but I have never yet been able to get an explanation of the 
term "Rain-bird." Though strictly speaking an arboreal 
bird, I have constantly seen it descend to the ground, and 
search amongst the dead leaves for a moment or two before 
returning to the tree. 
No. 518. Oriolus kundoo. Indian Oriole. 
Pilak [H.]. 
The Indian Oriole, though a permanent resident, is very 
scarce during the winter months, when, curiously _, its place is 
to some extent taken by 0. melunocephalus. It becomes 
common about May and breeds during June and July. 
The nests are cup-shaped cradles suspended in outlying 
forks of trees, usually, but not always, at some height 
from the ground. The materials are grass, tow, rags, &c., 
and the structure is generally well concealed from above^ 
