ORIOLE. 
remaiudor of the under parts white, each feather with heavy drops of black ; under 
tail-coverts uniform ^ejdsh-wliite : under-surface of wings blackish-brown, margined 
on the imier web with vinous-pink. Collected near Brisbane, Queensland. 
Eggs. Two to four eggs form the clutch, three usually, four very seldom. A clutch of 
three eggs taken at Belltrees, Upper Hunter River, New South Wales, on the 3rd of 
October, 1909, is of a pale cream ground-colour, spotted and blotched (particularly 
towards the larger end) with light and dark unrber and slaty-grey. Swollen ovals 
in shape. Smface of shell fine, smooth and glossy. 33 by 23 mm. 
Nest. A deep, open, cup-shaped structure, composed of strips of bark interwoven with 
leaves, etc., and, when built about a homestead, pieces of twine and strands of old 
bagging are often used. It is well secured to the limb from wliich it is suspended 
by the rim, and closely resembles the nest of the Noisy Friar-Bird {Philemon 
comicvlatus). Lined with tliin ckied grasses. The outside of the structure is 
often ornamented and matted together with the silk-like egg-bags of spiders and 
moth cocoons, etc. Generally placed in a tree, mostly in the forest, and at various 
heights from 16 up to 40 feet or more ; frequently the nest is situated near the end 
of a drooping brancli. Measurements over all, 61 to nearly 71 inches across by 5§ 
to 6 inches in depth. Egg-cavity, 4 to 41 inches across by 21 to 3 inches deep. 
Breeding-months. September to end December or January. 
As hereafter discussed, Latham described first a species of RoUer and then a 
Grakle, both of which were based on paintings of this bird. 
The description of the Grakle was soon recognised and used for this 
Oriole, and Vigors and Horsfield added a new species, giving as field notes: 
“ The following extract from IVIr. Caley’s MSS. contains all the knowledge we 
have of these birds. He speaks undecidedly; but what he says is against 
the opinion that they are meliphagous. ‘ These are birds of passage. I think 
I once saw a flock of them in Government Garden, and that the gardener com¬ 
plained of their destroying the figs. One of my specimens, to the best of my 
recollection, I shot in a green wattle tree close to Government House.’ ” 
Gould noted: “ This form is merely an offshoot from Oriolus, from wliich 
it is distinguished by the absence of any gay colouring m the plumage of its 
members. The true and probably the restricted habitat of this species is 
New South Wales, where in the months of summer it is tolerably plentiful 
in every part of the colony. I frequently observed it in the Botanic Garden 
at Sydney, and in aU the gardens of the settlers, where there were trees 
of sufficient size to afford it shelter; the brushes of the country, the sides of 
brooks, and aU similar situations are equally inhabited by it. I did not find 
it in South Austraha, neither has it been observed to the westward of that 
part of the country. That its range extends pretty far to the northward I have 
no doubt, as its numbers rather increased than diminished in the neighbourhood 
of the rivers Peel and Namoi. The bird as observed by me in New South 
Wales was bold and active, and. was often seen in company with the Regent-, 
Satin- and Cat-Birds, feeding in the same trees and on similar berries and 
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