A Rare British 
Bird. 
(,69) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
A Rare British Bird. 
The Golden Oriole, reported to have 
been nesting in Cornwall this summer, is 
one of the rarer birds which occasionally 
visit Britain for the purpose of nidifica- 
tion; and it is devoutly to be hoped 
that the nest and its owners have 
escaped the attention of collectors, who, 
protection Acts and the vigilance of 
County Councils notwithstanding, have 
too often been the means of robbing the 
country of some of its greatest attrac¬ 
tions. Lest it should bring them to un¬ 
desirable notice, it is, perhaps, best in 
such cases that the exact locality chosen 
by the birds should not be mentioned; 
but if, unfortunately, they are interfered 
with, anyone coming into possession of 
the information should not hesitate to 
lay it before the proper authorities, so 
that the law may be put into operation 
against the offenders. 
His Dress and Nest. 
The Golden Oriole in size and build 
somewhat resembles a Starling, but the 
handsome and strongly-contrasted black 
and yellow plumage of the male renders 
him at once a conspicuous object, as, 
like a flash of sunlight, he flits from tree 
to -tree. The female is much less 
brightly coloured, her prevailing tint 
being a greenish yellow, more or less 
streaked and blended with marks of 
olive grey. In neither sex is the full 
plumage attained until the third year, 
the young being at first of a dull olive 
green. The nest of the Oriole is very 
unlike that of any other of our breeding 
birds, being a flattish saucer-shaped 
fabric, composed of wool, fibrous roots, 
and fine grasses, and is suspended, ham¬ 
mock-wise, under the horizontal fork 
of the bough of a tree. The eggs are 
white, with a few spots of dark purple. 
Common in France 
The bird is not an infrequent visitor 
to some of the Southern Counties of 
England, being, perhaps, more fre¬ 
quently seen in Cornwall, or the Scilly 
Islands, than elsewhere. It is fairly 
common in some of the adjacent parts 
of France, and would undoubtedly be¬ 
come a regular breeding species in this 
country if allowed to do ,so. The writer 
is informed that for the past year or 
two a brood has been successfully reared 
in one part of Cornwall, and as migrants 
usually return to the place where they 
have been hatched, it is not unreason¬ 
able to look forward to the regular 
arrival of the Oriole in April, if only a 
proper forbearance is now exercised. 
The call of the male is a loud flute-like 
whistle, which it has been attempted to 
render into our language by the words 
“ Who are you,” a strong emphasis being 
laid on the last syllable, and if it can¬ 
not vie in beauty with the song of the 
Blackbird and the Thrush, it would still 
be a welcome addition to those wood¬ 
land voices of returning spring, which 
“ Waken with a mellow gust of sound 
The forest solemn hush.’’ 
Nest and Eggs of the Sedge Warbler. 
