Oriolus kundoo, _Sykes, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 107; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 470.
The Indian Oriole breeds from May to August (the great majority,
however, laying in June and July) almost throughout the plains country
of India and in the lower ranges of the Himalayas to an elevation of
4000 feet. In Southern and Eastern Bengal it only, so far as I
know, occurs as a straggler during the cold season, and I have no
information of its breeding there. It does not apparently ascend the
Nilghiris, and throughout the southern portion of the peninsula
it breeds very sparingly, if at all; indeed, it is just at the
commencement of the breeding-season, when the mangoes are ripening,
that Upper India is suddenly visited by vast numbers of this species
migrating from the south.
The nest is placed on some large tree, I do not think the bird has
any special preference, and is a moderately deep purse or pocket,
suspended between some slender fork towards the extremity of one of
the higher boughs. From below it looks like a round ball of grass
wedged into the fork, and the sitting bird is completely hidden within
it; but when in the hand it proves to be a most beautifully woven
purse, shallower or deeper as the case may be, hung from the fork of
two twigs, made of fine grass and slender strips of some tenacious
bark and bound round and round the twigs, and secured to them much
as a prawn-net is to its wooden framework. Some nests contain no
extraneous matters, but others have all kinds of odds and ends--scraps
of newspaper or cloth, shavings, rags, snake-skins, thread,
&c.--interwoven in the exterior. The interior is always neatly lined
with fine grass-stems.
Very commonly the bird so selects the site for its nest that the
leaves of the twigs it uses as a framework form more or less of a
shady canopy overhead; in fact, as a rule, it is from very few points
of view that even a passing bird of prey can catch sight of the female
on her eggs. Possibly the brilliant plumage of the bird (which has
endowed it amongst the natives with the name of _Peeluk_, or "The
Yellow One") may have had something to do with the concealment it so
generally affects.
The nests vary a good deal in size. I have seen one with an internal
cavity 3½ inches in diameter and over 2½ deep. I have seen others
scarcely over 2½ inches in diameter and not 2 in depth, which you
could have put bodily, twigs and all, inside the former. As a rule,
the purse is strong and compact, the material closely matted and
firmly bound together; but I have seen very flimsy structures, through
which it was quite possible to see the eggs.
Four is the greatest number of eggs I have ever found in one nest, but
it is quite common to find only three well-incubated ones.
Colonel C.H.T. Marshall reports having found several nests of this
species about Murree at low elevations.
Mr. W. Blewitt tells me that he obtained two nests near Hansie on the
1st and 14th July respectively. The nests (which he kindly sent) were
of the usual type, and were placed, the one on an acacia, the other
on a loquat tree, at heights of 10 and 12 feet from the ground.
Each contained three eggs, the one clutch much incubated, the other
perfectly fresh.
Dr. Scully writes:--"The Indian Oriole is a seasonal visitant to the
valley of Nepal, arriving about the 1st of April and departing in
August. It frequents some of the central woods, gardens, and groves,
and breeds in May and June."
Colonel J. Biddulph remarks regarding the nidification of this Oriole
in Gilgit:--"A summer visitant and common. Appears about the 1st of
May. Nest with three eggs hard-set, taken 8th of June; several other
nests taken later on."
Writing from near Rohtuk, Mr. F.R. Blewitt says:--"The breeding-season
is from the middle of May to July. The nest is made on large trees,
and always suspended between the fork of a branch. I have certainly
obtained more nests from the tamarind than any other kind of tree.
"The nest is cup-shaped, light, neat, and compact. The average outer
diameter is 4·8 inches; the inner or cup-cavity about 3·6. Hemp-like
fibre is almost exclusively used in the exterior structure of the
nest, and by this it is firmly secured to the two limbs of the fork.
Cleverly indeed is this work performed, the hemp being well wrapped
round the stems and then brought again into the outer framework.
Occasionally bits of cloth, thread pieces, vegetable fibres, &c. are
introduced. On one occasion I got a nest with a cast-off snake-skin
neatly worked into the outer material.
"The lining of the egg-cavity is simply fine grass, if we except the
occasional capricious addition of a feather or two, an odd piece of
cotton or rag, &c. Three appears to be the regular number of eggs.
This bird is to be found in small numbers all over the country here;
its habits are well described by Jerdon. It is, as I have observed,
hard to please in its choice of a nest site. I have watched it for
days going backwards and forwards, from tree to tree and from fork to
fork, before it made up its mind where to commence work."
Capt. Hutton records that "this is a common bird in the Dhoon, and
arrives at Jerripanee, elevation 4500 feet, in the summer months to
breed. Its beautiful cradle-like nest was taken in the Dhoon on
the 29th of May, at which time it contained three pure white
eggs, sparingly sprinkled over with variously sized spots of deep
purplish-brown, giving the egg the appearance of having been splashed
with dark mud. The spots are chiefly at the larger end, but there is
no indication of a ring. The nest is a slight, somewhat cup-shaped
cradle, rather longer than wide, and is so placed, between the fork
of a thin branch, as to be suspended between the limbs by having the
materials of the two sides bound round them. It is composed of fine
dry grasses, both blade and stalk, intermixed with silky and cottony
seed-down, especially at that part where the materials are wound round
the two supporting twigs; and in the specimen before me there are
several small silky cocoons of a diminutive _Bombyx_ attached to the
outside, the silk of which has been interwoven with the fibres of the
external nest. It is so slightly constructed as to be seen through,
and it appears quite surprising that so large a bird, to say nothing
of the weight of the three or four young ones, does not entirely
destroy it."
From Futtehgurh, the late Mr. A. Anderson remarked:--"The nest and
eggs of this bird so closely resemble those of its European congener
(_O. galbula_) that little or no description is necessary. The
Mango-bird lays throughout the rains, July being the principal month.
One very beautifully constructed nest was taken by me on the 9th July,
1872, containing four eggs, which, according to my experience, is in
excess of the number usually laid. I have frequently taken only a pair
of well-incubated eggs.
"Two of the four eggs above alluded to were quite fresh, while the
other two were tolerably well incubated. The nest is fitted outwardly
with tow, which I have never before seen. One of the pieces of cloth
used in the construction of this nest was 6 inches long."
"At Lucknow," writes Mr. R.M. Adam, "I found this species on the 20th
May building a nest in a neem-tree, and on the 24th I took two eggs
from the nest. On the 10th June I saw another pair, only making love,
so they probably did not lay till the end of that month."
Dr. Jerdon notes that he "procured a nest at Saugor from a high branch
of a banian tree in cantonments. It was situated between the forks of
a branch, made of fine roots and grass, with some hair and a feather
or two internally, and suspended by a long roll of cloth about
three quarters of an inch wide, which it must have pilfered from a
neighbouring verandah where a tailor worked. This strip was wound
round each limb of the fork, then passed round the nest beneath, fixed
to the other limb, and again brought round the nest to the opposite
side; there were four or five of these supports on either side. It was
indeed a most curious nest, and so securely fixed that it could not
have been removed till the supporting bands had been cut or rotted
away. The eggs were white, with a few dark claret-coloured spots."
Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing from Afghanistan:--"At Shalofyan,
in the Kurrum valley, in June, I found them in great numbers: some
were breeding; but as I saw quite young birds, it is probable that the
nesting-season was nearly over."
Colonel Butler contributes the following note:--"The Indian Oriole
breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa in the months of May, June, and
July. I took nests on the following dates:--
"24th May, 1876. A nest containing 1 fresh egg.
29th " " " " 3 fresh eggs.
12th June " " " 2 much incubated eggs.
12th " " " " 3 fresh eggs.
13th " " " " 2 "
19th " " " " 3 "
29th " " " " 2 "
29th " " " " 2 "
29th " " " " 3 "
3rd July " " " 2 "
6th " " " " 3 "
30th " " " " 2 "
"The nest found on the 24th May was suspended from a small fork of a
neem-tree about ten feet from the ground, and was very neatly built of
dry grass (fine interiorly, coarse exteriorly), old rags, and cotton
(woven, not raw). The rim was firmly bound to the branches of the fork
with rags and coarse blades of dry grass. It is an easy nest to find
when the birds are building, as both birds are always together and
keep constantly flying to and from the nest with materials for
building. The cock, as before mentioned, always accompanies the hen
to and from the nest whilst she is building; but I do not think he
assists in its construction, as I never saw him carrying any of the
materials, neither have I ever seen him on the nest. On the contrary,
whilst the hen is at the nest building he is generally waiting for
her, either on the same tree or else on another close by, occasionally
uttering his well-known rich mellow note. On the 29th May I sent a boy
up a tree to examine a nest. The hen bird had been sitting for a week,
and was on the nest when the boy ascended the tree. The cock bird flew
past, and being a brilliant specimen I shot him, thinking of course
that the nest contained a full complement of eggs. To my astonishment,
however, though the hen bird sat very close, there were no eggs in the
nest, and although she returned to it once or twice afterwards, she
eventually forsook it without laying. Possibly she may have laid, and
that the eggs were destroyed by Crows. In addition to the materials
already mentioned, this nest was also composed of tow, string, and
strips of paper, all neatly woven into the exterior, and many of the
other nests mentioned 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, upon which they built a new 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 eggs.
"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 1½ to 3 inches."
Mr. George Reid 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 mango-trees begin to bloom to the
end of September. It frequents gardens, avenues, mango-topes, and is
frequently seen in open country, taking 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).
July 2nd. 2 eggs (fresh).
July 2nd. 1 egg (fresh).
July 5th. 3 eggs (fresh).
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 corresponded exactly with
Jerdon'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."
Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajpootana in general, tells us that
this Oriole breeds during July and August.
Mr. C.J.W. Taylor, speaking of Manzeerabad in Mysore, says:--"Abundant
in the plains. Rare in the higher portions of the district. Breeding
in June and July."
The eggs are typically a moderately elongated oval, tapering a good
deal towards one end, but they vary much in shape as well as size.
Some are pyriform, and some very long and cylindrical, quite the shape
of the egg of a Cormorant or Solan Goose, or that of a Diver. They are
always of a pure excessively glossy china-white, which, when they
are fresh and unblown, appears suffused with a delicate salmon-pink,
caused by the partial translucency of the shell. Well-defined spots
and specks, typically black, are more or less thinly sprinkled over
the surface of the egg, chiefly at the large end. Normally, as I
said, the spots are black and sharply defined, and there are neither
blotches nor splashes, but numerous variations occur. Sometimes, as in
an egg sent me by Mr. Nunn, all the spots are pale yellowish brown.
Sometimes, as in an egg I took at Bareilly, a few spots of this colour
are mingled with the black ones. Deep reddish brown often takes the
place of the typical black, and the spots are not very unfrequently
surrounded by a more or less extensive brownish-pink nimbus, which in
one egg I have is so extensive that the ground-colour of the whole of
the large end appears to be a delicate pink. Occasionally several of
the clear-cut spots appear to run together and form a coarse irregular
blotch, and one egg I possess exhibits on one side a large splash. The
eggs as a body, as might have been expected, closely resemble those of
the Golden Oriole, to which the bird itself is so nearly related; and
as observed by Professor Newton in regard to the eggs of that species,
so in _my_ large series, the prevalence of greatly elongated examples
is remarkable.
The eggs vary in length from 1·03 to 1·32, and from 0·75 to 0·87 in
breadth; but the average of fifty eggs measured was 1·11 by 0·81.
521. Oriolus melanocephalus(Linn.). _The Indian Black-headed
Oriole_.
Oriolus melanocephalus, _Linn., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 110;
_Hume, Rough Draft N. & E_ no. 472.
Oriolus ceylonensis, _Bonap., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 111.
I have already noticed ('Stray Feathers,' vol. i, p. 439) how
impossible it is to draw any hard-and-fast line, in practice, between
this the so-called "Bengal Black-headed Oriole" and the supposed
distinct southern species, _O. ceylonensis_, Bp.
The present species certainly breeds in suitable (i.e. well-wooded
and not too bare or arid) localities throughout Northern and Central
India, Assam, and Burma, and I have specimens from Mahableshwar,
from the Nilgiris, and even Anjango, that are nearer to typical _O.
melanocephalus_ than to typical _O. 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 _O.
kundoo_; 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, &c. It is slightly
smaller than the average run of the nests of _O. kundoo_. 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 _O. kundoo_, 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 1·125 by
barely 0·8."
From Raipoor, Mr. F.R. Blewitt remarks:--"_Oriolus melanocephalus_
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, varying 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.R. Cripps writes from Furreedpore 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 Ghât in
Khandeish. On the 16th August he saw a brood, while on an adjoining
tree there was a nest with two slightly-set eggs. He says:--"It was a
very deep cup on the end of a thin branch, and though in cutting the
branch to get at the nest, it got turned at right angles to its proper
position, the eggs were uninjured. I do not think this nest belonged
to the same pair as that which had young ones flying.
"These Orioles are very common here, and I found three nests: one
was new and empty; from another the birds had just flown; while the
remaining one contained one fresh egg. The bird would no doubt have
laid more; but to get at the nest I had to cut the branch off, and it
was only then I discovered that only one egg had been laid."
Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Plentiful at Allahabad across the Ganges,
notwithstanding which I only found one nest, and that I have no note
about, but I remember it was some time in June, and contained four
half-fledged young ones; the materials of the nest were the same as
those used by _O. kundoo_."
Writing of his experience in Tenasserim he adds:--"On the 5th March I
found a nest of this bird in a small tree near the village of Hpamee.
It, however, contained three unfledged young, so I left it alone.
"On the 21st April I found a second nest suspended from the tip of a
bamboo that overhung the path from Shwaobah village to Hpamee. This
contained two awfully hard-set eggs, white, with a few dark purple
blotches and spots at the larger ends. Nest made of grass and dry
bamboo-leaves, lined with the dry midribs of leaves, and firmly bound
on to the fork of the bamboo with a strip of some bark."
Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"My nests of this Oriole have been found
in March, April, and May, but I have no doubt they also breed in June.
No details appear necessary."
Typically the eggs are somewhat elongated ovals, only slightly
compressed towards one end, but pyriform as well as more pointed
varieties may be met with. The shell is very fine and moderately
glossy. The ground-colour varies from a creamy or pinky white to a
decided but very pale salmon-colour. They are sparingly spotted and
streaked with dark brown and pale inky purple. In most eggs the
markings are more numerous towards the large end. Some have no
markings elsewhere. The dark spots, especially towards the large end,
are not unfrequently more or less enveloped in a reddish-pink nimbus.
Though much larger and much more glossy, some of the eggs, so far as
shape, colour, and markings go, exactly resemble some of the eggs of
_Dicrurus ater_. The eggs of _O. kundoo_ are typically excessively
glossy china-white, with few well-defined black spots. The eggs of
_O. melanocephalus_ are typically somewhat less glossy, with a pinky
ground and more numerous and less defined brownish-purple spots and
streaks. I have not yet seen one egg of either species that could be
mistaken for one of the other, although of course abnormal varieties
of each approach each other more closely than do the typical forms.
The dozen eggs that I possess of this species vary from 1·1 to 1·2 in
length, and from 0·78 to 0·87 in breadth, and the average is 1·14
by 0·82. Although the average is somewhat larger than that of the
preceding species, and although none of the eggs are quite _as_ small
as many of those of _O. kundoo_, still none are nearly so large as the
finest specimens of the latter's egg. Probably had I an equally large
series of the eggs of the present species, we should find that as
regards size there was no perceptible difference between the two.