50 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



{Oriolus kundoo). Both have yellow instead of black 

 heads, and only difEer in some slight details of 

 marking, and in the fact that the migratory bird 

 has, as one would expect, longer wings. I don't 

 remember ever seeing this mango-bird in Calcutta, 

 but it is very likely to occur here. The black-headed 

 species has an even wider range than the Indian 

 Golden Oriole, for it extends into Burma as far as 

 Tenasserimy In Southern India and Ceylon it gets 

 smaller and has the black wings less varied- with 

 yellow than is the case here ; but Orioles do not give 

 much scope for variation — ^theyare just yellow and 

 black birds as a rule, and there is an end of it. It is 

 a curious fact that, although their food seems simple 

 enough. Orioles don't bear confinement well, our 

 black-headed one especially, and one seldom sees 

 them caged. Our only species which is not black 

 and yellow, the Maroon Oriole {Oriolus traillii) of the 

 hills, is an exception and will thrive and keep in good 

 condition where the golden birds would be miserable 

 scare-crows. Although the Orioles have such a wide 

 range in the Old World, they have never penetrated 

 into the New, the American birds commonly so called 

 really belonging to a very different family, the 

 Troupials. They reproduce the real Oriole colours 

 and pattern to a remarkable extent but are different 

 in form and habits, being in these respects somewhat 



