Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 10, 55; 10, 95; 18, 69): [Book 10, 55] ...the golden oriole, which is yellow all over, is not seen in winter but comes out about midsummer. [Book 10, 95] There are quarrels ... between the raven and the golden oriole when searching for one another's eggs by night. [Book 18, 69] ...the oriole, on the contrary, comes out exactly on midsummer day... - [Rackham translation]

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Birds 5.97): Orioles are birds, as he says [i.e. Liber rerum], that are named from the sound of their voice, so to speak. They are of a golden color throughout, except that on the wings they have certain distinct blue feathers. Pliny: They hang their nests on the smallest branches of trees with such wonderful precision, that if you see a nest from the ground, you will think it hangs in the air. And this because it cannot bear the stench of his own dung, if it is tormented by its own dung for a long time, it dies. They protect their nest from the rain amid dense foliage. These are said to be of the species of woodpecker [picorum], although they are smaller. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]