ORIOLUS. 
The female is different. The front, or fpace between 
the eye and the bill, is of a vivid yellow, the throat and 
the fore part of the neck of a light yellowifh cart, with 
brown fpeckles ; the reft of the under part of the body 
of a deeper yellow, the upper of a ffiining yellow ; all 
the wings variegated with brown and yellow ; the tail 
alfo yellow, except the two mid-quills, which are brown, 
marked with a yellowifh fpangle, and tipt with yellow. 
This fpecies inhabits about Madras, and has been con¬ 
founded with the preceding. Vaillant calls it loriot 
ricur, the laughing oriole : he met with it in the lofty 
woods bordering the mountains near the Great Fifh-river 
and the Gamtoos; and he mentions a remarkable circum- 
ftance of the orioles in general, at lead of the three fpe¬ 
cies he met with in Africa ; namely, that their bones 
were uniformly yellow, the yellownefs increaling with 
the age of the bird. 
4. Oriolus radiatus, the ftriped-headed oriole : tawny; 
head, chin, and throat, black, dotted with white. This 
bird has been regarded by fome as a fpecies of blackbird ; 
but is not fo large, and is of a more flender fhape: its 
"bill, tail, and legs, are fliorter, but its toes longer; its 
head is brown, delicately radiated with white ; its wing- 
quills are alfo brown, and edged with white ; all the body 
is of a beautiful orange, deeper on the upper part than 
cm the lower; the bill and the nails are nearly of the fame 
colour, and the legs are yellow. It is not al'certained to 
what country this fpecies belongs. 
5. Oriolus picus, the climbing oriole: colour tawny; 
head, neck, and bread, fpotted with white; tail rounded. 
Billyellowifh-grey jcolourof the belly inclining to brown ; 
legs blackifh. Inhabits among trees in Guiana, where it 
climbs like a pie, and picks out infefts from under the 
bark. Seven inches long. 
6. Oriolus iftericus, the ifleric oriole: this is alfo 
tawny; the head, throat, and back, black; wings black, 
with a white fpot on each. 
Brilfon gave this bird the Latin name itterus, from its 
yellow colour ; for the fame reafon Scopoli termed it xan- 
thornus, or yellow-bird. The favages of Brafil name it 
guira-tangeima ; thofe of Guiana yapou ; the French co- 
lonifts adjaune, or yellow-bottom. The molt obvious 
features in the exterior appearance of this bird, are its 
long pointed bill, the narrow feathers of jts neck, and 
the great variety of its plumage : not only three colours 
enter into it, an orange-yellow, black, and white, but 
thefe colours feem to multiply by their artful diltribution. 
The black is fpread over the head, the anterior part of 
the neck, the middle of the back, the tail, and the wings; 
the orange-yellow occupies the intervals, and all the un¬ 
der part of the body; it appears alfo in the iris, and on 
the anterior part of the wings; the black which prevails 
through the reft, is interrupted by two oblong white 
fpots, of which the one is placed at the coverts of the 
wings, the other on their middle quills. The feet and 
nails are fometimes black, fometimes of a lead-colour. 
The bill feems to have no conftant colour ; for it has been 
obferved to be in fome white-grey, in others black above 
and brown below. 
This bird is nine or ten inches long from the point of 
the bill to the end of the tail ; and, according to Marc- 
grave, its wings extend fourteen inches, and its head is 
very fmall. It is difperfed through the region lying be¬ 
tween Carolina and Bralil, and through the Caribbean 
iflands. It hops like the magpie, and has many of its 
geftures, according to Sloane. It has even, according to 
Marcgrave, the fame cries; but Albin arterts, that in all 
its actions it refembles the ftare ; and adds, that fometimes 
four or five unite to attack a larger bird, which, after they 
have killed, they devour orderly, each maintaining his 
rank. 
7. Oriolus Novae Hifpaniae, the Mexican oriole : yellow ; 
head and throat black; tail and wings blackifh, orna¬ 
mented with fmall feathers of a golden colour, which 
739 
have a fine effeft on the dark ground. Seba reckons it a 
South American bird ; and Brilfon fubjoins, that it is mod 
common in Mexico. The bill is long and yellow. 
8. Oriolus annulatus, the ring-tailed oriole: yellow; 
head and neck black, greater coverts of the wings and 
their quills edged with yellowifh ; tail blackifh. This 
bird is called the ring-tail, on account of a black arch or 
crefcent with its concavity turned towards the head, 
which appears diftindfly on the tail when fpread, and the 
more remarkable, as this is of a fine yellow colour, which 
is alfo that of the bill and of the whole body. 
9. Oriolus piftus, the painted oriole: front red; nape 
orange; back yellow; cheeks, rump, and belly, bluifh; 
fhoulders brown ; quill and tail feathers black. Inhabits 
America. 
10. Oriolus Brafilianus, the Brafilian oriole: yellow; 
breaft fpotted ; head and back with pale-brown fpots ; 
belly white; tail and wings brown; the latter tipt 
with whitifh. It inhabits the fhrubby places in Jamaica, 
and is four inches long. The bill is half an inch long ; 
the orbits are yellow ; legs brown, claws yellow. 
11. Oriolus Japacani, the Japacani oriole : black mixed 
with a pale-brown; beneath varied white and yellow, 
with tranfverfe black lines ; head and tail blackifh. In¬ 
habits Brafil, and is eight inches long. The bill is black ; 
irides golden ; legs dirty-white ; claws fliarp and black. 
It is defcribed by Ray, Willoughby, and Latham. 
12. Oriolus cortototl, the New-Spain oriole: black; 
beneath and tail variegated with faffron and black. It 
inhabits New Spain, and is about the fize of a ftarling. 
13. Oriolus grifeus ; the grey oriole : varied with yel¬ 
low and black; back, thighs, and belly, cinereous. It 
inhabits the woods of New Spain : fize of the laft ; it does 
not fing ; the flefh is good. 
14. Oriolus phcenicus, the red-winged oriole, or fwamp- 
bird: black; wing-coverts tawny. This bird is diftin- 
guiflied by a fine red mark on the anterior part of its 
wings, which is the more ftriking, as it is thrown upon 
a ground of fhining gloffy black ; for that is the general 
colour not only of its plumage, but of its bill, feet, and 
nails. There are however fome flight exceptions : the 
iris is white, and the bafe of the bill is encircled by a 
narrow ring of red ; the bill alfo inclines fometimes to 
brown rather than black. But the real colour of the 
mark on the wings is not a pure red, according to Fer¬ 
nandez, but is tarnifhed with a rufous tint, which in - » 
creafes, and becomes at laft the predominant colour. 
Thefe fometimes feparate, the red occupying the anterior 
and more elevated part of the fpot, the yellow the pofte- 
rior and lower. It is nearly of the fize and fhape of the 
ftare; its extreme length is eight or nine inches, and its 
alar extent thirteen or fourteen : it weighs three ounces 
and a half. 
Thefe birds inhabit the cold as well as the warm coun¬ 
tries : they are found in Virginia, Carolina, Louifiana, 
Mexico, &c. They, are peculiar to the New World; 
though one was killed in the environs of London : but 
this had doubtlefs efcaped from its cage. They can be 
eafily tamed, and taught to fpeak; and they are fond x>f 
finging and playing, whether they be confined, or al¬ 
lowed to run through the houfe; for they are very fami¬ 
liar and lively. The one killed near London was opened ; 
in its ftomach were found caterpillars, beetles, and mag¬ 
gots. But in America they feed on wheat, maize, &c. 
and are very deftrubtive. Catefby informs us, that in 
Carolina and Virginia they breed among the rufhes; and 
they interweave the points of thefe fo as to form a fort 
of roof or fhed, under which they build their neft, and 
at fo proper a height, that it can never be reached by the 
higheft floods. This conftrudlion is very different from 
that of the other orioles, and fhows a different inftindf, 
and therefore proves that it is a diftinft fpecies : their 
eggs are white, with fcattered black llreaks. Thefe birds 
appear in Louifiana in the winter only; but they are then 
4 ib 
