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nearer to typical 0. melanocephalus than to typical 0. ceylonensis.
Of its nidification southwards I know nothing. I have only
myself taken its eggs in the neighbourhood of Calcutta.
It appears to lay from April to the end of August. The nest
of this species, though perhaps slightly deeper, is very much like
that of 0. Jcundoo • it is a deep cup, carefully suspended between
two twigs, and is composed chiefly of tow-like vegetable fibres,
thin slips of bark and the like, and is internally lined with very
fine tamarisk twigs or fine grass, and is externally generally more
or less covered over with odds and ends, bits of lichen, thin flakes
of bark, &e. It is slightly smaller than the average run of the
nests of (9. Jcundoo. The egg-cavity measures about 3 inches in
diameter and nearly 2 inches in depth. I myself have never found
more than three eggs, but I daresay that, like 0. Jcundoo, it may
not unfrequently lay four.
The late Captain Beavan writes :—" A nest with three eggs,
brought to me in Manbhoom on 5th April, 1865, is cup-shaped;
interior diameter 3-5, depth inside 2 inches. It is composed
outside of woolly fibres, flax, and bits of dried leaves, and inside of
bents and small dried twigs, the whole compact and neat. The
eggs are of a light pink ground (almost flesh-coloured), with a few
scattered spots of brownish pink, darker and more numerous at
the blunt end. They measure 1-325 by barely 0-8."
Erom Raipoor, Mr. F. E. Blewitt remarks :—" Oriolus melano-
cepJialus indiscriminately selects the mango, mowah, or any other
kind of large tree for its nest, which is invariably firmly attached
to the extreme terminal twigs of an upper horizontal branch, vary-
ing from 20 to 35 feet from the ground, Owing to the position
it selects for the safety of its nest, it sometimes happens that the
latter cannot be secured without the destruction of the eggs. It
nidificates in June and July, and it would appear that both the
birds, male and female, engage in the construction of the nest.
Three is the normal number of the eggs, though on one occasion
my shikaree found four in a nest."
Buchanan Hamilton tells us that this species " frequents the
groves and gardens of Bengal during the whole year, and builds a
very rude nest of bamboo-leaves and the fibres that invest the top
of the cocoanut or other palms. In March I found a nest with
the young unfledged."
I confess that I believe this to be a mistake : neither season nor
nest correspond with what I have myself seen about Calcutta.
The nests, so far from being rude, are very neat.
Mr. J. B. Oripps writes from Eurreedpore in Eastern Bengal:—
" Very common, and a permanent resident. On the 20th April I
found a nest containing two half-fledged young ones ; in the garden
was a clump of mango-trees, and attached to one of the outer twigs,
but overhung by a lot of leaves, and about 12 feet from the
ground, hung the nest, of the usual type/'
Mr. J. Davidson met with this Oriole on the Kondabhari Gh&t
in Khandeish. On the 16th August he saw a brood, while on an