358 OBIOLIDJE.

were exactly similar; sometimes I have found pieces of snake-skin
woven into the exterior.

" On the 9th of July I observed a pair of Orioles building on a
neem-tree in one of the compounds in Deesa. When the nest was
nearly finished a gale of wind rose one night and scattered it all
over the bough it was fixed to. The birds at once commenced to
remove it, and in a couple of days carried off: every particle of it to
another tree about 100 yards off, npon which they built anew nest
of the materials they had removed from the other tree. I ascended
the tree on the 17th of July, and found it contained three fresh

; The eggs are pure white, sparingly spotted with moderately-
sized blackish-looking spots, if washed the spots run. They vary a
good deal in shape and size, some being very perfect ovals, others
greatly elongated, &C."

Major C. T. Bingham writes :—" The Indian Oriole builds at
Allahabad and at Delhi from the beginning of April to the end of
July. In the cold weather this bird seems to migrate more or less,
as but few are seen and none heard during that season. The nests
are built generally at the top of mango-trees and well concealed;
they are constructed of fine grass, beautifully soft, mixed with
strips of plaintain-bark, with which, or with strips of cotton cloth
purloined from somewhere, the nest is usually bound to a fork in
the branch. The egg-cavity is pretty deep, that is to say from 1|
to 3 inches."

Mr. Greorge Beid records the following note from Lucknow:—
" The Mango-bird, or Indian Oriole, though a permanent resident,
is never so abundant during the cold weather as it is during the
hot and rainy seasons from about the time the maugo-trees begin
to bloom to the end of September. It frequents gardens, avenues,
mango-topes, and is frequently seen in open country, taldng long
flights between trees, principally the banian and other Fici, upon
the berries and buds of which it feeds. I have the following
record of its nests :—

'June 16th. Nest and no eggs (building).
6 July 2nd. 2 eggs (fresh).
£ July 2nd. 1 egg (fresh).
4 July 5th. 3 eggs (fresh).

c July 25th. 3 young (just hatched).
' August 5th. 2 young (fledged)."

Messrs. Davidson and "Wenden, writing of this bird in the
Deccan, say:—" Common, and breeds in June and July."

Colonel A. C. McMaster informs us that he "found several
nests of this bird at Kamptee during June and July • they corre-
sponded exactly with Jerclon's admirable description. Has any
writer mentioned that this bird has a faint, but very sweet and
plaintive song, which he continues for a considerable time? I
have only heard it when a family, old and young, were together,
i. e. at the close of the breeding-season."