590 BRITISIi BIRDS. 



and Indian birds, 0. notatus being distinguished by not having the black 

 bases to the outer tail-featherSj which are uniform yellow. 



It seems probable that the Golden Oriole was never much more than an 

 accidental summer visitor, or at most a rare straggler during the breeding- 

 season, to our islands. Though it is common in South Finland, it seems, 

 for some reason or other, very rarely to cross the Baltic into Sweden ; and 

 though it may be seen every day in Holland, the English Channel appa- 

 rently presents difficulties in the way of its further migration northwards, 

 which it does not often attempt to surmount. Its late arrival on the con- 

 tinent is also an argument against its having a northerly range. I have 

 repeatedly noticed, when birds^-nesting on the continent, that those birds 

 whose breeding-range extended to Britain or Scandinavia were the earliest 

 to breed, whilst those whose eggs I was most anxious to obtain, those 

 whose breeding-range did not extend to our islands, were very late in 

 arriving. At Brunswick the Golden Oriole did not arrive until the 5th of 

 May ; and at Valconswaard we did not hear its well-known song before the 

 13th of May, some time after many of the earlier migrants already had 

 eggs. We found the first Golden Oriole's nest on the 25th of May, con- 

 taining only two eggs, and the second on the same day, with only one eg^ 

 in it. Another was brought to us on the 27'th with only two eggs, and a 

 fourth on the following day with four eggs ; and it was not until the 29th 

 that we found one containing five eggs. Naumann says that this bird is 

 one of the first to leave North Germany in autumn, migrating southwards 

 in August. Even in such a southerly latitude as Smyrna, where it is only 

 known as passing through on migration in spring and autumn, Kriiper 

 says that it is seen from the middle to the end of April, and again on the 

 return journey from the last week of July to the first week of September. 

 It is therefore not to be wondered at that this handsome bird is not of tener 

 seen in England. 



Though it frequents the trees in the gardens close to the houses and on 

 the roadsides, it is a very shy and skulking bird, and is not often seen on 

 the wing. Its presence, however, is at once revealed by its immistakable 

 song, though even in regard to this some little caution must be exercised, as 

 in places where it is a common summer visitor I have heard an excellent 

 imitation of it produced by a Starling. Although careful to conceal itself, 

 it by no means avoids the haunts of man, and I have often heard the song 

 and caught an occasional glimpse of the bird in the trees almost in the 

 middle of Diisseldorf and other large continental towns. At Valconswaard 

 we most frequently saw it crossing the road from one oak tree to another. 

 Its voice is marvellously rich and flute-like. The call-note diu-ing the 

 pairing-season sounds like the words "Who are you?" in a full rapid 

 whistle ; and its song is a wheet, li, vee-o, whence its vernacular name in 

 Holland of " Kiel-i-vee-vo." Some slight modifications in its song are 



