GOLDEN ORIOLE

THERE are different species of oriole, but this is the only one which is ever found in these kingdoms, and it only very rarely; but a few instances are on record of its having found its way across the Channel. In France, this bird is not uncommon, and it breeds there. The nest is of a curious shape, being somewhat in the form of a purse; it is fastened to the outermost branches of tall trees, placed in the cleft between two, and is composed of stalks and fibres of hemp or straw, or the fine dry stalks of grass, and lined with moss and other soft materials. The female is strongly attached to her eggs and young, and will, it is said, suffer herself to be taken off the nest sooner than leave them.

The golden oriole is about the size of a thrush, being about nine inches and a half in length. The bill is brownish red; the iris or eye, red. The general colour of the plumage is a bright golden yellow, whence the obvious name of the bird: there is a streak of black between the bill and the eye. The quill feathers of the wing are black, overhung with some of the yellow of the back, and there is a patch of the same in the middle of the wing: the two centre feathers of the tail are black, inclining at the base to olive; the tips yellow; of the remainder, the basal half is black, the rest yellow; the legs lead-colour; the claws black.

The note of this species is in general loud and shrill, but Bechstein, the author of the "Cage Birds," says that two young ones which he had, were able, in addition to their usual song, the one to whistle a fanfare,

and the other a minuet; and he considered the tones of their voice to be very melodious and agreeable.

According to the same author also, in Germany these birds usually resort to the outskirts of the forest, where they haunt the umbrageous recesses of the underwood among old and lofty trees, in which it is naturally difficult to see or disturb them. In the summer time they repair to the orchards and gardens, where they feast upon the cherries. In the month of August they migrate from thence in families, and return again to the scene of their birth in the following May.

POLAR BEAR.

Or the bear there are three kinds; the common brown bear, found among the Alps, and in other parts of Europe; the black bear of North America, which is smaller in size; and the huge Greenland, white, or polar bear.

The last-named species feed on fish, seals, and dead whales, which abound in those Arctic regions which are their native country. Their flesh consequently is rank and unpleasant, but of the other kind, the hams are considered good eating, and even a delicacy.

When our sailors first land upon the unfrequented shores of some of those extreme northern countries, where perhaps the foot of man has never trodden before, the white bears come to gaze upon them in a sort of ignorant astonishment; but they soon become but too well acquainted with the destructive nature of the fire-arms they carry; and if wounded, they either endeavour to fly, or make a desperate resistance, until finally overpowered by the superior force and skill of their assailants. "It often happens, that when a Greenlander and his wife are paddling out at sea, by coming too near an ice floe, a white bear unexpectedly jumps into their boat, and if he does not overset it, sits calmly down, and like a passenger suffers himself to be rowed along. It is probable that the poor little Greenlander is not very fond of his new guest; however he makes a virtue of necessity, and hospitably rews him to shore."

One would naturally be disposed to imagine that the bear, or any other warm-blooded animal, would suffer from the cold in the dreadfully severe climate which