From The Queen magazine, October 31, 1908
THE occasional visits to Kent of the beautiful golden oriole have given that county still further claim to be called the garden of England.
This semi-tropical bird of brilliant yellow plumage is an annual summer migrant, and would doubtless breed here every year were it not for the gun of the destroyer.
But the extreme south-east of Kent, like the south coast of Cornwall, seem most to attract these erratic wanderers.
And yet these extreme corners of England are different - the one so open and the other so sheltered; the one so hilly that the other, in comparison, appeals almost level.
As a fitting environment, pictorially Kent is the more suitable.
In France, where orioles are considered common, they frequent plantations close to gardens, and their loud song may be heard amongst the fruit trees during May and June.
There, they build their nests in the tops of the oak trees, but, here in England, the raising of golden orioles is sufficiently rare that when it occurs it needs to be placed on record.
And in Kent they have nested several times.
Dumpton Park, in the Isle of Thanet became quite celebrated owing to recurring instances of orioles nesting within its precincts, and so great an interest did one enthusiastic naturalist take in the occurrence that he rented the estate for several years on that account alone.
The owner, Mr Banks Tomlin. was fully aware of the necessity of ensuring that the birds should not be disturbed, and he gave strict orders to that effect.
During his residencies there, a near relative of mine visited the place and has told me how he journeyed from London for the sight of a golden oriole's nest in a tree.
Once, during a high wind the supporting branch rocked so much that one of the eggs was jerked out upon grass below and broken.
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