Oriole

Oriole, any bird of the Passerine family Oriolidae, with five genera, and especially of ,the typegenus Oriolus, with twenty-four species, from the warmer regions of the Old World. The plumage is very brilliant, consisting of shades of yellow boldly marked with black. The best-known species, O. galbula, the Golden Oriole, is about nine inches long; a deep golden yellow is the prevailing colour; there is a blotch of the same hue on the black wings, and the dark tail feathers are edged with yellow. In summer it'is common in central and southern Europe, ranging eastwards to Irkutsk, and its winter quarters are in South Africa. It is an occasional British visitor in spring, and there seem to be a few instances of its breeding in this country. It is a shy bird, frequenting groves or the dense foliage of tree-tops. In the spring it feeds chiefly on insects, but when fruit is ripe it does considerable damage to the crops, though it probably repays the mischief by the-insect pests it consumes. The nest is usually attached to both branches of a horizontal fork, from which it depends. The name Oriole is given in America to the Hang-nests.