THE GOLDEN ORIOLE . 
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danger, it often baffles the skill even of the practised fowler, who is forced to trast to the 
careful imitation of its note for his hope of getting within shot of this cunning bird. More- 
over, the imitation must be exceedingly exact, for the ear of the Golden Oriole is wonderfully 
true and delicate, and if the bird detects the least error in the intonation, it takes instant 
alarm, and seeks refuge in the deepest recesses of the forest. According to M. Bechstein, the 
Golden Oriole is so fearful of exposing itself, that it never perches upon a naked branch, 
always preferring those boughs which are most thickly covered with foliage, and which will 
consequently afford it the best shelter. 
The food of the Golden Oriole consists chiefly of insects ; and as the bird is rather a 
voracious one, it is very serviceable in clearing away the caterpillars and other fruit-devouring 
creatures which are specially rife in the spring, and destroy so much fruit in its earliest stages. 
As is often the case with the insect-eating birds, the Golden Oriole has a great taste for fruit 
when it is quite ripe, and in the autumn is very fond of the best and mellowest fruits, having 
an especial predilection for cherries, figs, and grapes. Perhaps it may be able to detect the 
GOLDEN ORIOLE. — Oriolus galbula. 
larva of some insect within the fruit, and to do good service by destroying it before it has 
come to maturity. 
The nest of this bird is a very elegantly formed and well-constructed edifice, of a shallow 
cup-like shape, and usually placed in a horizontal fork of a convenient branch. The. materials 
of which it is made are mostly delicate grass-stems interwoven with wool so firmly that the 
whole structure is strong and warm. The eggs are generally four or five in number, and their 
color is purplish-white, sparely marked with blotches of a deep red and ashen-gray. It is 
believed that there is but one brood in the year, so that the species does not multiply very 
rapidly. Sometimes the bird is said to build a deep and purse-like nest, which is suspended 
from the forked branch instead of being placed upon it. 
This species has a very peculiar note, loud, flute-like, and of a singularly articulate char- 
acter, as may be supposed from the fact already mentioned, that the Italian peasantry believe 
it to speak their language. Bechstein considers the note to resemble the word “ puhlo,” and 
many writers think that the different names of Oriole, Turiole, Loriot, Pirol, and Biilow are 
given to the creature in imitation of its cry. 
