GOLDEN ORIOLE. 
35 
of the parents and the young family. They are birds of shy 
and retired disposition, and are rarely seen beyond their 
■wooded tract, where they are generally hidden among the 
thick foliage. Insects and various fruits, such as cherries, 
figs, olives, etc. constitute their food. 
The nest of this species is singular in materials and con¬ 
struction, and differs from that of all other birds found in 
Britain. A specimen which we received from Suffolk was 
suspended from the forked branch of a tree, and is composed 
almost entirely of wool, interwoven and bound together with 
long coarse grasses and fine fibrous roots ; it is about the size 
of the blackbird’s nest, and of similar shape and depth, con¬ 
taining four eggs : this nest is remarkably light and very 
beautiful. 
These birds begin very early their southern migration : 
they leave Holland and Germany in August: it is therefore 
probable that their journey being commenced so early, is con¬ 
tinued to a very remote part of Africa, where they join their 
brethren of African descent, and other tropical birds. 
The season of moulting also argues a very distant southern 
migration, as it takes place in February in caged specimens, 
from which we may naturally infer that in a wild state they 
pass through that change within the tropics, if not even in 
the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are in opposition 
to our own. 
Caged birds of this species betray great restlessness at the 
period of migration during many weeks in spring and autumn. 
The song of the Golden Oriole is extremely pleasing; it is 
also capable of instruction in confinement. Young birds 
may be reared from the nest by feeding them on ants’ eggs 
and other insects, raw meat well chopped, and occasionally 
bread and milk, but they require a great deal of care and 
attention. 
Most of the specimens of this species recorded to have 
