OEIOLTJS MELANOCEPHALUS. 



(THE BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE.) 



Oriolus melanocephalus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 160 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 215 

 (1849); Kelaart, Prodronius, Cat. p. 122 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, 

 xiii. p. 123 ; Horsf. & Moore (in pt.), Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 269 (1854) ; Jerdon 

 (in pt.), B. of Ind. ii. p. 110 (1863) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 301 (1874) ; id. Str. 

 Feath. 1874, p. 230 ; id. t. c. (1878) (B. of Tenass.), p. 330. 



Oriolus ceylonensis, Bonap. Consp. Av. i. p. 347 (1850) ; Jerdon (in pt.), B. of Ind. ii. p. Ill 

 (1863) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 453 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 439 ; Fairbank, ibid. 

 1877, p. 406; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, hi. p. 216 (1877). 



The Black-headed Indian Icterus, Edwards, Birds, p. 77, pi. 77; Le Loriot de Bengale, 

 Brisson ; The Southern Black-headed Oriole, Jerdon, B. of Ind. ; Mango-bird, Euro- 

 peans in Ceylon. Piled; Zardak, Hind. ; Konda-ranga pandu, Telugu. 



Ka-Jcurulla, lit. ' ; Yellow-bird," Sinhalese; Mamkoel, Mambala Jcuruvi, Tamils'in Ceylon. 



' Adult male. Length 9-5 to 10-0 inches ; wing 5-0 to 5-2 ; tail 3-2 ; tarsus 0-9 to 1-05 ; middle toe and claw 0-95 to 1-0 : 

 bill to gape 1"25, width at nostrils - 37. 



Iris bright ruby-red ; bill faded lake-red, paler about the base beneath ; legs and feet dusky bluish, claws dusky. 



Entire head, hind neck, throat, and fore neck down to the centre of the chest shining jet-black ; wings and a patch on 

 the centre of the four middle tail-feathers black, less lustrous than the head ; rest of upper and under surface, 

 wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts, tail and under wing rich yellow, with a slight greenish tinge on the 

 back and rump ; tips of the primary-coverts, varying from 0-3 to 0-5 inch in depth, tips of the secondaries, varying 

 on the outer webs of the innermost feathers from 0-3 to 0-6 inch in depth, bright yellow ; primaries more finely 

 tipped with pale yellow ; in most specimens, except those which are evidently very old, the yellow of the central 

 rectrices next the black is sullied with greenish ; the black band varies from f to 1 inch in width on these feathers. 

 In some examples the outer web of the shortest secondary feather, which is almost concealed by the scapulars, is 

 entirely yellow. 



Adult female. Length 9-5 inches ; wing 4-8 to 5-0. The yellow of the back and breast is less vivid than in the male. 

 Examples not fully adult of both sexes have the back strongly tinged with greenish. 



Young. The bird of the year measures S - 7 to 9-1 inches, and has a wing of 4-7 to 4 - 8. Iris brown ; bill black or blackish 

 brown, with the edge of the base of lower mandible light ; legs and feet slightly duskier than in the adult ; a 

 yellowish stripe runs from the nostril over the eye ; orbital fringe yellowish ; throat white, with black mesial stripes : 

 the wing-coverts, which are yellow in the adult, have blackish centres ; tips of secondaries less conspicuous ; 

 margins of primaries whitish at the centre ; tail-band brownish, very broad, and extending across all the feathers, 

 but limited to the outer web on the two laterals ; the breast striated with black, and apparently more so in males 

 than in females ; back washed with brownish. In the nestling just plumaged the head has the feathers edged 

 greenish. 



Obs. The Oriole inhabiting Southern India and Ceylon has been usually styled 0. ceylonensis, a name given by .Bona- 

 parte to a bird with less yellow on the wing than he supposed the species described by Linnaeus, under the name 

 of O. melanocephulus, exhibited. Linnseus, however, founded his species on Edwards's plate of the Black-headed 

 Indian Icterus, which is no other than a representation of the Ceylonese and Peninsular-Indian Oriole with the 

 tertials tipped only with yellow ; the spot formed by the yellow tips of the primary- coverts is, it is true, very large, 

 and answers well to that which exists in the Himalayan bird usually styled O. melanocephalus. This is, however, a 

 mistake of the artist, as is manifest by the letterpress, which runs as follows : — " The remainder of the quills next 

 the body are tipped- with yellow, ivhich colour extends a little way along their outer webs; the tips of the covert-feathers 

 where they fall on the greater quills are yellow, which form a distinct spot of yellow a little above the middle of 



