212 GOLDEN ORIOLE. 



chiefly in rivers contiguous to the sea, although it is sometimes killed 



in waters more remote : it is a quick diver, and not easily shot, except 



on the wing. It is seldom caught in decoys, but we have frequently 



bought them in Bristol market, where they are indiscriminately sold 



for widgeons. They retire northward to breed, and are found at that 



season in Norway and Sweden. They are well known on the sea coast 



of America and also on the lakes and rivers of the interior, where they 



associate in small parties, and are known by the vigorous whistling of 



their wings as they pass through the air. They leave that country for 



the north in the month of April.* 



GOLDEN ORIOLE {Oriolus galbula^ Linnaeus.) 



* Oriolus Galbula, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 160. 1 Gmel. Syst. p. 382. sp. I.— Lath. Ind. 



Orn. 1. p. 186. sp. 45. — Coracias Oriolus, Fauna Suec. No. 95. — Galbula, 



Ban, Syn. p. 68. 5 Will. p. 147. t. 36. 38 Oriolus, Briss. 2. p. 320. t. 58. 



— Ib. 8vo. 1. p. 247.— Le Loriot, Buff. Ois. 3. p. 254. t. 17.— Ib. pi. Enl. 26. 

 the male. — Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 129. — Gelbe Rache, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 

 2. p. 1292 — Gelber Pirol, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 108.— Witwall, Will. 

 (Angl.) p. 198.— Yellow Bird from Bengal, Albin, 3. t. 19.— Golden Thrush, 

 Edio. t. 185. — Golden Oriole, Br. Zool. App. p. 41. t. 4. — Lewins Br. Birds, 



2. t. 43.— Lath. Syn. 2. p. 449. 43.— Ib. Supp. p. 89.— Mont. Orn. Diet Ib. 



Supp. — Don. Br. Birds, 1. t. 7. — Bewick's Supp. to Br. Birds. — Selby, pi. 35. 

 fig. 1. & 2. p. 90.* 



This is the only species ever found in England, a few instances of 

 which are only on record. It is about the size of a blackbird ; length 

 nine inches and a half. The bill is brownish red ; irides red. General 

 colour of the plumage fine golden yellow ; between the bill and eye a 

 streak of black ; the wings black, marked here and there with yellow, 

 and a patch of the same in the middle of the wing ; the two middle 

 feathers of the tail are black, inclining to olive at the base, the very 

 tips yellow ; the base half of the others black, the rest yellow ; legs 

 lead-colour ; claws black. 



The female is of a dull greenish brown in those parts where the male 

 is black. Wings dusky ; tail dirty green ; all but the two middle feathers 

 yellowish white at the ends. 



This beautiful bird is not uncommon in France, where it breeds. 

 The nest is curiously constructed, in shape like a purse : it is fastened 

 to the extreme forked branches of tall trees, composed of fibres of 

 hemp, or straw mixed with fine dry stalks of grass, and lined with 

 moss and liver wort. She is said to be so tenacious of her eggs as to 

 suffer herself to be taken on the nest. 



*Bechstein informs us, that in Germany they usually resort to the 

 skirts of the forest, where they haunt the bushy branches and under - 

 wood of the old and lofty trees, from which it is difficult to see or 



