COLORED BIRDS.—THE GOLDEN ORIOLE.
———
FROM BECHSTEIN.
———
[SEE ENGRAVING.]
This species, the male of which is very beautiful, is about the size of a blackbird. Its length is nine inches, of which the tail measures three and a half, and the beak one. The head, neck, back, breast, sides, and lesser wing-coverts, are of a brilliant golden yellow; the wings and the tail are black, with yellow gradually increasing to the outer feathers.
The female is not so brilliant, the golden yellow is only visible at the tip of the olive feathers in the tail, and in the lesser and under wing-coverts. All the upper part of the body is of the green color of the siskin, the lower part greenish white with brown streaks, and the wings gray black.
Habitation.—When wild, it generally frequents lonely groves, or the skirts of forests, always keeping among the most bushy trees, so that it is rarely seen on a naked branch; it always frequents orchards during the time of cherries. It is a bird of passage, departing in families in August, and not returning till the following May.[[2]]