THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 3 
informed me that the bird had been seen in one of his thickets during the previous 
week. We visited the place in the hope of discovering a nest, but were unsuc- 
cessful. 
In Ireland it has chiefly occurred on the east coast, most of the examples 
being females, or immature males; a specimen was recorded as shot in the Feroe 
Islands, in May, 1893, by Col. H. W. Feilden. Perhaps the nearest point to 
London at which it has been recognised, was noted in the “‘Zoologist” for 1892, 
an example having apparently been seen in Richmond Park. 
The male of this species is bright gamboge yellow, the lores, wings (excepting 
the terminal third of the primary-coverts) and a great part of the tail black; the 
primaries, excepting the two outermost, are edged externally, and the secondaries 
are tipped with yellowish white; the two central tail-feathers are yellowish at the 
base, and yellow at the tip, and the other feathers have the terminal third of the 
outer webs, and borders of the inner webs yellow; bill reddish ochreous; feet 
leaden grey; iris bright red. The female is much duller than the male, greener, 
and with the black colouring replaced by deep brown; the throat, breast, and 
centre of belly whitish; the throat, breast, and flanks streaked with greyish. 
Young birds are greener and browner than the female, but otherwise similar ; 
nestlings have the upper parts olivaceous, spotted with yellow. 
The Golden Oriole frequents gardens, groves, plantations, thickets, and the 
outskirts of large woods, especially in the neighbourhood of water; it seems to 
prefer the haunts of man, yet is so shy that it rarely remains in view for more 
than a minute as it flies rapidly, in somewhat Thrush-like, though more undulating 
fashion, from cover to cover; choosing ever the densest foliage, as if aware of the 
perilous brilliance of its plumage: possibly it may slowly be acquiring a hereditary 
knowledge of the fact that, if but a glimpse is obtained of it, an attempt at least 
is made to put an end to its life; or if it fails to comprehend so much, it may 
inherit a dread of the thunder and lightning which, for generations, have heralded 
its appearance: birds are not naturally fearful of man; for even those which have 
been taught by their parents to dread him, can be generally converted by gentleness 
and petting: moreover the fact that a grown man can tame a small bird, whereas 
even the tamest will always show the greatest fear of a little boy, certainly seems 
to prove that the instinctive dread of the monkey nature in the latter is deeply 
implanted in all birds; just as is that of a cat, even though that animal may 
never have been seen by the bird previously.* 
* I found that Thrushes, Blackbirds, and Starlings, taken quite young from the nest, and hand-reared, 
showed the utmost alarm when they caught sight of a cat in my garden. I find that all birds fear boys much 
more than girls, but especially when the children are quite young. These facts are entirely opposed to Charles 
Dixon’s theory that everything has to be learned by each individual, nothing being instinctive or inherited. 
