738 
O R I O L U S. 
Thefe birds are found chiefly in America; though 
Monf. Vaiilant met with forne fpecies in Africa. Many 
of the fpecies are migratory, and have pendulous nefls; 
they are numerous, and gregarious; noify and voracious, 
fubfifling on.grain and fruits, particularly cherries. The 
orioles are generally of a very focial difpofltion. Lpve, 
which feparates fo many other animals into pairs, in or¬ 
der to propagate their kind, and fulfil the defires of na¬ 
ture, ferves only to flrengthen the bonds of their union. 
A great number of pairs of forne of the fpecies are often 
feen upon the fame tree, neflling, hatching, and educating 
their young, together. They always choofe one of the 
tailed trees for conftrufting their neds, which are of a 
cylindrical form, fufpendetl from the extremity of the 
highed branches, and floating in the air, with the mouth 
downwards. (See the Plate.) The young are thus in con¬ 
tinual motion, as if rocked in a cradle. A traveller who 
walks into the foreds of thofe countries, among the firfl 
flrange objects that excite his curiofity, is druck with 
the number of birds-neds hanging at the extremity of 
almod every branch. The whole hidory of nature does 
not, perhaps, aft'ord an example of a more ingenious and 
fuccefsful precaution than that of thefe birds againd 
thofe animals by which they are furrounded, and which 
are hodile to their kind. In well-peopled and cultivated 
parts of the world, where the feathered race have more to 
fear from man, they generally avoid this formidable foe, 
by cautioufly concealing their habitations from his fight. 
But, in thofe folitary and extenfive foreds of the New 
World, where man is feldom feen, the bird hangs its ned 
up to general view, and is only folicitous that it be be¬ 
yond the reach of thofe voracious animals who live by 
robbery or furprife. With this view the ned is attached 
to the depending points of the large branches of the 
banana or plantain trees; where the monkey and ferpent 
are fet at defiance. On one of thefe immenfe trees, fays 
Goldfmith, is feen the mod various and the mod inimi¬ 
cal aflemblage of creatures that can be imagined. The 
top is inhabited by monkeys of peculiar fiercenefs, that 
drive ofl'all others; lower down, numbers of large fnakes 
twine about the valt trunk, patiently waiting till forne 
ill-fated animal come within the fphere of their activity; 
and, at the extremities of the branches hang.the dangling 
neds of the oriole, and other tribes of birds, whole de¬ 
lightful plumage is variegated with the mod exquilite 
flrokes of nature’s pencil. 
i. Oriolus galbula, the golden oriole: yellow; lores 
and joints black; outer tail-quills yellow on the top, black 
under. 
The golden oriole is a roving bird, frequently'changing 
its abode. The pair build their ned on lofty trees, and 
form it with lingular indudry. They faflen to the fork 
of a fmall branch long draws or hemp-flalks; fome pf 
which, extending directly acrofs, form the margin of 
the ned; others penetrate through its texture; while 
others, bending under it, give folidity to the flrudture. 
The ned is thus provided with an exterior cover ; and 
the inner bed, prepared for receiving the eggs, is a mat¬ 
ting of the fmall dems of dog-grafs, the beards of which 
are fo much concealed, that the ned has often been fup- 
pofed to be lined with the roots of plants. The inter- 
dices between the outer and inner cafe are filled with 
mofs, lichens, and other fuch fubdances, which compafil 
the whole. After the ned is conflrudted, the female drops 
in it four or five eggs, the ground-colour of which is a 
dirty-white, fprinkled with fmall diffinft fpots of brown, 
mod numerous on the fmall end. She fits clofely three 
weeks,; and not only retains long her affection to her 
young, but defends them againd their enemies, and even 
againd man, with Angular intrepidity. The parents have 
been feen to dart relolutely upon the plunderers of their 
brood ; and, what is dill more remarkable, a mother, taken 
with her ned, continued her attempts to hatch in the cage, 
and expired on her eggs. 
This bird is in length about nine or ten inches, its alar 
extent fixteen, its tail three and a half long, and its bill 
fourteen lines. The male is of a fine yellow over all the 
body, the neck, and head, except a black dreak which 
dretches from the eye to the corner of the aperture of 
the bill, and under the throat. The wings are black at 
the joints; and the tail is divided by yellow and black. 
But the plumage is very diderent in the two fexes. Al¬ 
mod all that was of a pure black in the male, is, in the 
female, of a brown, with a greenifli tinge; and what was 
of a beautiful yellow in the former, is in the latter olive 
and pale-brown: olive on the head, and the upper part of 
the body dirty-white, variegated with brown flreaks un¬ 
der the body, white at the tips of mod of the wing- 
quills, and pale-yellow at the extremity of their coverts ; 
and there is no pure yellow, except at the end of the tail 
and on the lower coverts. The young males referable the 
females with refpedt to plumage, and the more fo the ten¬ 
derer their age. At firfl they are dill more fpeckled than 
the female, and even on the upper part of the body; but 
in the month of Auguflthe yellow begins to appear un¬ 
der the body. Their cry is different alfo from that of 
the old ones, fucceeded fornetimes with a fort of mew¬ 
ing ; but they have alfo a fort of whidling, efpecially be¬ 
fore rain. 
This fpecies is fornetimes, but rarely,found in England ; 
it is more frequent in other parts of Europe, in Afia, and 
in Africa. In the fonth of Africa, M. Vaiilant obferves, 
it is merely a bird of palfage, not arriving there till after 
the young are pretty well grown ; there it remains during 
the fruit-feafon, never reaching farther than the country 
of the Caffres, beyond which, travelling from the Cape, 
he never met with one. He fuppofes that the Gold Coad 
is the place of their nefling and rearing their young in 
Africa. Plate I. annexed,is a reprefentation of thegolden 
oriole and its ned. 
The mottled oriole, fuppofed by fome to be the fe¬ 
male of the above. It is yellow, variegated with blackifh 
fpots ; the head, neck, and tail-feathers, blackifh. It 
inhabits Madras, and is defcribed by Edwards under the 
title of the yellow Indian darling. 
y. O. Indicus, the Indian oriole: head marked with 
a tranfverfe blue band ; tail-feathers yellow, with a blue 
bar'; quill-feathers yellow, fpotted with blue; the bill and 
legs are of a glowing bright-red. It inhabits India, as 
its name imports. 
The two following are alfo confidered as varieties by 
Dr. Turton, though left as feparate fpecies by Gmelin. 
a. Oriolus ‘ Chinenfis, the Chinefe oriole: yellow; 
joints black, but yellow at the tips ; a black Aripe on the 
back of the head. This bird was brought from Cochin- 
china: it is perhaps rather larger than the preceding; its 
bill is alfo proportionably Aronger; the colours of the 
plumage are nearly the fame, and didributed in a fimilar 
manner, except on the coverts of the wings, which are 
entirely yellow, and on the head, where there is a fort of 
black horfe-flioe, of which the convex part bounds the 
occiput, and its branches, pafling below the eye, termi¬ 
nate in the corners of the opening of the bill. Tim is 
the mod remarkable didinftion of the Chinefe oriole ; yet 
there are fome fpecimens of this bird in which the upper 
part of the body is of a brown-yellow. In all, the bill is 
yellowifh, and the legs black. Latham reckons it a variety. 
3. Oriolus inelanocephalus, the Bengal oriole : this is 
fomewhat lefs than the former, but is nearly of the fame 
proportions and colours, though differently dil’pofed. 
The head hath a rich purple glofs ; the throat, and the 
fore part of the neck, are entirely black ; but in the tail 
there is no black, except a broad dripe which erodes the 
two intermediate quills near theirextremity,and two fpots 
placed very near the tips of the two following quills. 
Mod of the coverts of the wings are yellow, the others 
are parted with black and yellow ; the larged quills are 
black where they are feen when the wings are clofed, and 
the others are edged or tip.t with yellow ; all the red of the 
plumage is of the fined yellow. 
The 
