358 OEioiiii^i. 



were exactly similar ; sometimes I have found pieces of snake-skin 

 woven into the exterior. 



" On the 9th of July I observed a pair of Orioles building on a 

 neem-tree in one of the compounds in Deesa. When the nest was 

 nearly finished a gale of wind rose one night and scattered it all 

 over the bough it was fixed to. The birds at once commenced to 

 remove it, and in a couple of days carried off every particle of it to 

 another tree about 100 yards off, upon which they built a new nest 

 of the materials they had removed from the other tree. I ascended 

 the tree on the 17th of July, and found it contained three fresh 



' The eggs are pure white, sparingly spotted with moderately- 

 sized blackish-looking spots, if washed the spots run. They vary a 

 good deal in shape and size, some being very perfect ovals, others 

 greatly elongated, &c." 



Major C. T. Bingham writes : — " The Indian Oriole builds at 

 Allahabad and at Delhi from the beginning of April to the end of 

 July. In the cold weather this bird seems to migrate more or less, 

 as but few are seen and none heard during that season. The nests 

 are built generally at the top of mango-trees and well concealed ; 

 they are constructed of fine grass, beautifully soft, mixed with 

 strips of plaintain-bark, with which, or with strips of cotton cloth 

 purloined from somewhere, the nest is usually bound to a fork in 

 the branch. The egg-cavity is pretty deep, that is to say from 1| 

 to 3 inches." 



Mr. George Eeid records the following note from Lucknow : — 

 " The Mango-bird, or Indian Oriole, though a permanent resident, 

 is never so abundant during the cold weather as it is during the 

 hot and rainy seasons from about the time the- mango-trees begin 

 to bloom to the end of September. It frequents gardens, avenues, 

 mango-topes, and is frequently seen in open country, taking long 

 flights between trees, principally the banian and other Fici, upon 

 the berries and buds of which it feeds. I have the following 

 record of its nests : — 



"June 16th. ISTest and no eggs (building). 



" July 2nd. 2 eggs (fresh). 



" July 2nd. 1 egg (fresh). 



" July 5th. 3 eggs (fresh). 



" July 25th. 3 young (just hatched). 



" August 5th. 2 young (fledged)." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing of this bird in the 

 Deccan, say : — " Common, and breeds in June and July." 



Colonel A. C. McMaster informs us that he "found several 

 nests of this bird at Kamptee during June and July; they corre- 

 sponded exactly with Jerdon's admirable description. Has any 

 writer mentioned that this bird has a faint, but very sweet and 

 plaintive song, which he continues for a considerable time ? I 

 have only heard it when a family, old and young, were together, 

 i. e. at the close of the breeding-season." 



