whole character of the nest, which Seebohm often made much of in his classifi-
cation, is quite unlike that of a Crow; being neatly woven, and slung like a
hammock between the forks of a branch: moreover, whereas the eggs of the Crows
are usually of some shade of green or blue, heavily spotted and speckled, or
blotched and mottled, with various shades of olive or brown, those of the Orioles
vary from white to salmon-pink, clearly spotted with blackish-brown, and some-
times with lilacine-greyish shell-markings.

The call-notes and songs of the Orioles are bright and melodious; but this
fact would not be a sufficient reason for dissociating them from the Crows;
although our native species of Corvid do not shine as whistlers, in their wild
state. I think, however, that Howard Saunders was fully justified in adopting
the present family for the Orioles.

Family-ORIOLID.

THE GOLDEN ORIOLE.

Oriolus galbula, LINN.

BREEDS in suitable localities throughout Europe south of the Baltic and in
Algeria; passes through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, and Nubia,
on migration; and winters in North Africa, south-eastwards to Madagascar,
Natal, and westwards to Damara Land: stragglers sometimes occur in Madeira,
and the Azores.

The Golden Oriole is a regular visitor to our shores in spring, the largest
number having been seen in the Scilly Islands, and Cornwall; it has, however,
been met with in not a few of the southern and south-eastern counties, and several
instances of its breeding with us have been recorded. In 1868, I saw a male
specimen of this bird near Linton, in Devonshire, and in July, 1887, I was just
too late to see the species in Essex; Mr. Fitch, of Maldon (whom I was visiting)
informed me that the bird had been seen in one of his thickets during the previous
