equally with the inhospitable locality the fact that the bird
must have gone far astray. I t does not seem to have been
recorded from Norway and has been met with only some
half dozen times in Sweden, though it has been said to
breed in the latter, but the statement is questionable. In
Finland, on the contrary, it is pretty common in the south
and towards the east of the middle. Pallas says it occurs
generally in the woodland districts of the temperate and
southern parts of Russia and thence across Asia to Dauuria,
and more lately Herr Radde observed it near Irkutsk, but
further to the east its place is taken by an allied species.
According to Prof. Brandt, Lehmann observed it in the
country of the Bashkirs, but De Filippi found it rare in
Western Persia. I t was sent to the Zoological Society from
Erzeroom and Trebizond. I t is known to breed in Asia
Minor and Palestine, and occurs very generally all over
Africa, from Egypt to Natal and Damaraland, as well as
on the Western and Northern coasts. I t was said by
Sganzin to occur in Madagascar. Mr. Frederick Hodman
records it from the Azores and Mr. Harcourt from the
Madeiras.
The adult male has the bill orange-brown ; from the base
to the eye a dark coloured streak; irides lake-red: the
whole of the head, neck and body, above and below, with
the upper and under tail-coverts, bright gamboge-yellow;
the wings black; the ends of the feathers of the spurious
wing yellow; the outer edge of the primaries, and the tips
of the secondaries and tertials, yellowish-wliite; upper
surface of the two middle tail-feathers black, tipped with
yellow; the outer tail-feather on each side has its basal half
black, the remaining portion yellow: in the tail-feathers on
each side between the outside feather and those in the middle,
the black occupies a larger space in each successively: under
wing-coverts yellow; under surface of the wing-quills and
the dark part of the tail-feathers, greyish-black; legs and
toes lead-colour; the claws, like the bill, orange-brown.
The whole length of the bird is nine inches and a half.
From the carpal joint to the end of the longest feather in
GOLDEN ORIOLE. 239
the wing, six inches and a quarter : the first wing-feather
not quite half as long as the second, which is not so long as
the fourth, but longer than the fifth; the third the longest
in the wing.
The female has not the dark streak between the bill and
the eye; the upper surface of the plumage is oil-green;
upper tail-coverts greenish-yellow; wing-coverts brocoli-
brown; the quill-featliers blackish-brown; the ends of the
spurious wing-featheis tipped with white; outer edges and
ends of the quill-feathers margined with dull white: upper
surface of tail brocoli-brown, tinged with yellow at the base,
streaked and tipped with brighter yellow; throat, breast,
and under surface of the body, dull greyish-white, streaked
longitudinally with dark brown on the shafts of the feathers ;
sides of the body and flanks yellow, streaked with dark
brown ; under tail-coverts pure yellow; under surface of tail-
feathers yellow mixed with dull grey.
According to Macgillivray, the young, in its first plumage,
is of a dusky yellowish-grey tint above, each feather having
the middle greyish-brown ; the lower parts yellowish-white,
each feather with a brown median lin e ; the sides and lower
tail-coverts bright yellow ; the wings and tail brown, marked
with yellow, as in the adult. The male is easily distinguished
from the female by its lighter colour. The irides
are brown ; the beak dark grey.
After the first moult, the young resemble females ; but it
has been stated that the latter as they grow older greatly
resemble the adult males.
In Dr. Thackeray’s British-killed specimen, which had not
attained the truly adult male livery, the upper surface of the
body is tinged with wine-yellow : the scapulars and a few
feathers 011 the centre of the back streaked with black; the
wings not so decidedly black : the spurious rving-feathers are
slightly tipped with greyish-white, not bright yellow, 011 the
distal half of their length, as in the old male first described;
the quill-feathers with narrow lighter-coloured outer margins
and tips : the feathers of the tail have the proximal two-
tliirds black, the rest yellow: under surface of the body
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