GOLDEN ORIOLE 47 
looking at the place, we found that the rock had been 
swept by the sea during a westerly gale, and the nest, soil, 
and sheltering plants completely wrecked and washed out 
of place. According to Mr. Graves’s observation, nesting 
usually commences early in May, but he has found a nest 
near Peel with hard-sat eggs as early as 17th April (1897). 
A few pairs breed annually in Peel Castle, where the nest 
is often built in a hole in the masonry of the ruins, 
Breeding on most rocky coasts of the British Isles, the 
species is found all round the shores of the Irish Sea. In 
Lancashire it is stated to be not numerous, and most 
common in winter. It nests scarcely on Walney, more 
commonly at St. Bees, and abundantly in Lleyn. In 
Galloway it is abundant, as in suitable localities in Ireland. 
It is a characteristic bird of the Hebrides and northern 
Scottish islands. 
ORIOLUS GALBULA, Linn. GOLDEN 
ORIOLE. 
Mr. Robert Gray (birds of the West of Scotland, p. 80) 
says: ‘A fine Golden Oriole was shot in June of the 
present year (1868) in the Isle of Man, and taken in the 
flesh to Mr, Hastings, bird-stuffer in Dumfries, for pre- 
servation. This is doubtless the specimen which appears 
in the Sale Catalogue of the Jardine Hall collection as 
Manx, and received from Mr. Hastings. 
On 25th April 1879 an adult female specimen was taken 
alive at Laxey, and after a few days’ captivity died and was 
mounted. It was exhibited to the Isle of Man Natural 
History Society in June 1881. 
Of forty-seven Irish occurrences (Ussher) six have taken 
place in Down, and one or two in Dublin. A few are on 
