say
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 Ghat 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 bel