Orioles (Oriolidae)

Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo) - HBW 13, p. 722

French: Loriot indien German: Indienpirol Spanish: Oropéndola India

Taxonomy: Oriolus Kundoo Sykes, 1832, Dukhun (= Deccan), India.
Closely related to O. oriolus and O. auratus; until recently considered to be conspecific with former, but differs in morphology and vocalizations and the two appear not to intergrade; all three form a superspecies, perhaps also including O. tenuirostris and O. chinensis as members. Three proposed geographical forms, yarkandensis (from Yarkand, in E Turkestan), turkestanica (Turkestan City) and baltistanicus (Dagoni, in Baltistan), are considered untenable. Monotypic.

Distribution: Breeds Uzbekistan, E Turkmenistan, SE Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, extreme W China (Tien Shan), Baluchistan hills and from N & E Afghanistan E in Himalayas to Nepal, and S through most of peninsular India; non-breeding also farther S in India and in Sri Lanka.