740 
O R I O L U S. 
fo numerous, that three hundred have been fometimes 
caught in a fingle draw of the net. For this purpofe is 
ufed a long and very narrow net of filk, in two parts, 
like that for larks. “ When they intend to fpread it,” 
fays Dupratz, “ they clear a place near the wood, and 
make a kind of path, which is fmooth and beaten, on 
which they ftrew a train of rice or other grain, and re¬ 
tire to conceal themfelves behind a bufh where the drag- 
cord is brought. When the flocks of red-wings pafsover 
the fpot, they quickly defcry the bait, alight, and are 
caught in an inkant.” 
( 3 . An African variety, with the fhoulders red, edged 
with yellow. Nat. Mi/cel. 252. 
15. Oriolus Americanus, the red-breafled oriole, or 
mocking-bird: colour black; chin, throat, bread:, and 
upper angle of the wings, red. Inhabits Guiana and 
Cayenne: feven inches long; fmgs pleafantly; imitates 
the notes of other birds; builds a long cylindrical pen- 
file nek. 
16. Oriolus oryzivorus, the rice-oriole: black; head, 
neck, and break, with a purple fnade. Bill one inch and 
a half long, convex and protuberant at the bafe. Inha¬ 
bits Cayenne : nine inches long. 
17. Oriolus Ludovicanus, the Louifiana oriole: varie¬ 
gated with black and white; the head, neck, belly, and 
rump, are white ; the wings and wedged-tail violet, edged 
with white. It inhabits North America, principally 
Louifiana ; and is ten inches long. The bill is black, 
and is about an inch long; the legs are of a lead-colour. 
( 3 . Blackifh-brown ; neck, break, and wings, fpotted 
with black; head white, with a black fpot.on the crown. 
18. Oriolus Hudfonius, the Hudfon’s-Bay oriole: 
blackifh,green ; head, chin, outer quill-feathers, thighs, 
and kreaks on the break, white. Inhabits Hudfon’s Bay: 
eight inches and a half long. This is placed as a variety 
of the Louifianian oriole, in Turton’s Linn. 
19. Oriolus crikatus, the crelled oriole: black; cref- 
ted; lower part of the back, rump, and vent, chefnut; 
lateral tail-feathers yellow. This is the largek fpecies yet 
known ; and is a native of Surinam. It is about the lize 
of a magpie; and its length is from eighteen to twenty 
inches. The colour of the male is black, with the lower 
part of the back, the rump, and vent, chefnut; and the 
lateral tail-feathers, yellow. The head is furnifhed with 
a narrow recumbent crek; the -^iil is of a dull-yellow, 
and the legs black. The female is laid to be of an olive 
colour; the quills are dufky, and the tail yel’.ow, as in 
the male, with the middle feathers black ; the head is 
crelted, and the eyes in both fexes are of a bright-blue. 
Nothing is known of the particular hikory of this fpecies, 
except that it feeds on in feels and fruits, and that it has a 
ftrong l'cent, refembling cakor. “ If,”fays Dr. Shaw, “it re- 
fembies the majority of this genus in its manner of build¬ 
ing, it may perhaps be the fabricator of the very large 
hanging-nek deferibed by Grew in his account of the 
Mufeumof the Royal Society. It is above three quarters 
of a yard long, betides part of it broken off; where 
broadek, near a foot over, and almok flat; narrowed from 
the bottom all the way to the top. It hath two aper¬ 
tures: above, about a foot from the top of the entire 
nek, one larger and.longer ; below, that is, a foot above 
the bottom, another perfectly round, and three inches 
over: it conflks of the parts of plants fomewhat loofely 
woven together.” 
1 3 . The olive-oriole, (perhaps the female of the above :) 
olive-brown ; beneath bay ; the two middle tail-feathers 
chelnut, the-lateral ones yellow. It inhabits Cayenne, 
find is twenty inches long. The bill is yellow ; at the 
hind-head are twm long pendent brillly feathers. 
7. The green oriole: all the fore part both above and 
below, and the coverts of the wings, green ; the hind- 
part chefnut; the wing-quills black, and thofe of the tail 
partly black and partly yellow ; the legs are entirely 
black,-and the bill red. The length of this bird is 
fourteen inches, and its alar extent eighteen or nine¬ 
teen. 
20. Oriolus hxmorrhous, the red-rumped oriole : black, 
the rump fcarlet. Inhabits Brafil, is eleven inches long, 
and is reckoned a very elegant fpecies, though the co¬ 
lours are plain rather than fplendid or glaring. Speci¬ 
mens have been feen, perhaps fuch as had not attained 
their full colours, in which the back was of a brown 
tinge, the rump of a pale-red, and the vent yellow. The 
nek of this bird refembles a narrow cucurbit with its 
alembic; the total length being about eighteen inches, 
but the interior cavity only twelve ; the upper part, by 
which it is attached, is denfe and flrong for about the 
length of fix inches. The hxmorrhous prefers building 
on fuch trees as overhang a river or lake. 
( 3 . A variety found at Guyana, and which is of a black¬ 
ifh-brown colour, with a yellow vent. 
21. Oriolus Perficus, the black-and-yellow oriole: 
black ; hind-part of the back, fpot on the wing coverts, 
and bafe of the tail-feathers, yellow. It is found in 
South America ; forms a pendent nek, fimilar to the one 
juk deferibed, on the extreme branches of trees, of which 
there are fometimes four hundred together. The eggs 
are of a dirty white, with ftnall pale-brown fpots. 
( 3 . Black ; hind-part of the back, fpot on the wing- 
coverts, and outer tail-feathers above, yellow at the bafe; 
all beneath, half yellow and black. 
7. Purplifh-black; fpot on the wings yellow, varied 
with black. The bill is yellowifh ; irides blue ; legs and 
claws black. 
22. Oriolus Mexicanus, the black-crowned oriole; 
yellow; crown of the head black. The plumage of this 
bird is of a fine yellow, with a black cap and mantle. 
The rail is black, and fpotlefs; but the black on the 
wings is fomewhat interrupted by the white which bor¬ 
ders the coverts, and again appears on the tips of the 
quills. Its bill is of a light-grey, with an orange tinge ; 
and the legs are chefnut. It is found at Mexico, and in 
the ifland of Cayenne. 
23. Oriolus African us, the African oriole : this is faid 
by Vaillant to be the only fpecies which breeds in the fouth 
of Africa, where it fpends the greatek part of the year, 
but not without moving from one woody canton to ano¬ 
ther, as the fruits ripen in different quarters. The head 
of the male is entirely black, which colour pervades the 
throat and front of the neck quite to the break, where a 
fine jonquil-yellow begins, and covers all the under parts. 
The upper furface, from the hind-head, is nlokly yellow, 
(differing chiefly in this from the preceding, which has a 
black mantle); but receives an olive tint on the back, 
fcapulars, wing and tail coverts, and the four mid-quills 
of the tail ; on the wings there is a good deal of black, 
tipped and edged with fhades of white, grey, and yellow; 
the four lateral tail-quills on each fide are black within 
and yellow' without, the black increafing on thofe near- 
ek the middle. The bill and eyes are brown-red; legs 
and feet lead-colour; nails brown. The female is lefs 
than the male; her black hood is tinted with olive, and 
her bill brown. In the young bird the hood is olive-grey, 
and does not extend fo far; and thole, parts which are to 
be yellow, are as yet olive-green. 
This fpecies is very frequent in the foreks of the eak- 
ern coak of Africa, from the Saumache, or Brak-river, 
quite to Caffraria; but only in large woods and on the 
highek trees. It is fuppofed to inhabit alfo Senegal, An¬ 
gola, and Abyffinia. The nek is made of bits of wood 
and fibres of roots, covered on the outlide with mofs, and 
lined with feathers; the eggs are four in number, of a 
dirty-white, with brown fpots colledled at the large .end 
like a crown ; the male fits alternately with the female, 
and the incubation lalts eighteen days. This bird has 
fuch a varied long, that you might think you heard feve- 
ral different kinds, or at leak a bird that was endeavour¬ 
ing to imitate the notes of other birds; but in the lov.e- 
feafon 
