I C y . 5
: avi g <ille i se reral O her 0 the Mnelish counties,
nstances are On record of the e 9 Seve t f I

‘ny North and South Wales, many parts of Scotland (from its most southern point

articularly Cornwall, : 27 TL
[PRUE us that it occasionally appears in all parts of Ireland.

Se i tells
to the Orkneys) ; and Thompson ; eae eee ee :
a ae of acquiring a knowledge of the habits of the bird m this country are but few,
s our oppor : 5

I shall now give some extrac ; : oe a

eT] Bore: » says Mr. Jerdon, “is found in the Himalayas, in Northern India, in Lower Bengal,
ie Hoopoe, say : ? : i i Ne F . :

and in various parts of India as far as the Neilgherries. It extends to Nepaul, Assam, and perhaps to
Mussulmen venerate the Hoopoe on account of their supposing it to have been a favourite

iti S ave se » bird in India and China.
ts from the writings of those who have seen the bird 1 a é Shine

Upper Burmah. | ea a holes oben
bird of Solomon, who is said to have employed one as a messenger. If nestles in i es of walls, eee
&c., and lays several greenish-blue or bluish-white eggs. Felllas states that ne once ao a Dee a
the exposed and barely decomposed thorax of a human body, with seven young birds just ready to fly, w hich
defended themselves with a most fetid fluid. Its voice is a pretty loud double or treble 4oop, whence its
name in most languages.” . 3

The breeding-habits of the Hoopoe are nearly identical with those of the Hornbills, the female never quit-
ting her eggs, and being regularly fed by the male until her task is done. .

Dr. David Scott, in a letter to Mr. Blyth, says :—‘“ In 1865, two pairs of Hoopoes bred in my verandah ;
after the hens began to sit, I never saw them outside the nest, but ui iluatt the two males fed them
regularly inside it. These birds were so tame and used to seeing me sitting in the verandah that my pre-
sence never disturbed them in the least ; I was therefore quite familiar with them, and can assert most posi-
tively that for a number of days I never saw the female of either pair out. I did not pay any attention to the
circumstance of there being only two flying about until I observed both males going up to the nests with gnats
in their bills, giving a call and then putting their heads inside for the hens to take the food. The feeding-
times were about seven or eight o’clock in the morning and about four in the afternoon. I have seen the
males getting the gnats &c. close under the very steps I was sitting on, and almost within two yards of my
chair, then flying up, giving a call, and coming down again directly the food was taken.”—Jéis, 1866, pee

“The flight of the Hoopoe,” says the late Captain Boys, “resembles that of a Woodpecker, being per-
formed in long undulating sweeps of five or six yards in extent. Its note resembles the syllables hoot, hoot,
hoot, pronounced quickly. When searching on the ground for food the head is moved upwards and down-
wards in a very rapid manner, much like the tapping of a Woodpecker, and this action is continued till the
entire bill is plunged in the earth to its base. Although its principal food is insects, I have occasionally
found the crop filled with grain and seeds. On the 13th of March, 1842, I discovered at Kullianpore, in
the hollow of a tree, a nest composed of two and three nearly fledged young.”

Mr. Swinhoe informs us that the Hoopoe is “a resident bird throughout China, from Canton to Talien
Bay. Builds in holes of walls and exposed Chinese coffins. The younglings call for food with a hissing
noise. The male during the breeding-season utters its song of love, ‘Hoo-hoo-hoo.’ To produce these
notes the bird draws the air into its trachea, which puffs out on either side of the neck, taps the bill
perpendicularly against a stone or the trunk of a tree, forces the breath down the tubular bill, and produces
the sound. Feeds on worms, for which it stamps the ground with its feet, clutching them by the head with
ainst the ground, and then, throwing up its head, jerks it down
to its small mouth, and finally swallows it.”—Proe. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 264.

“ Few birds,” says the Rev. H. B. Tristram, “have |

its bill. It bruises the worm by beating it ag

vad more absurd fables attached to them than the
Hoopoe. The Arabs have a superstitious reverence for it, and, be

lieving it to possess marvellous medicinal
qualities, they call it the ‘Doctor bird.’

Its head is an indispensable ingredient in all their charms and
in the practice of witchcraft. They also believe that it listens to wl

uispers and betrays secrets, and, what
is far more Important, that it has the power of de

tecting water and of pointing out hidden wells and springs.

yy 2 ‘

These autmbutes have doubtless been suggested by the quaint and grotesque movements of its head and tall
crest, which it erects in walking, and then with a solemn portentous look it bends its head down till the bill
touches the ground. The Greeks and Romans had equally
is considered a filthy feeder, chiefly from its h
its long delicate bill in search of small inse
as from the superstitions reverenc

absurd superstitions respecting the Hoopoe. It
abit of resorting to dunghills, which it probes assiduously with
cts. It was probably from its filthy habits and resorts, as well
e in which it was held by the Egyptians, that it was especially enumerated
Mosaic Law.” — Natural History of the Bible.
Statement that if the Hoopoe be overshadowed by a Hawk or Falcon, it
squats close to the ground, with its great wings and tail expanded to the utmost, and that the markings of the
; ies of black and white rings, in the midst of which the bill stands upright.
ithout recording my obligations to E. W. Vernon-Harcourt, Esq., for two
killed by himself in the Island of Madeira.
ale, a female, and a brood of young

among the unclean animals in the
I have somewhere met with the

wings then assume the form of a ser
I must not close this account w

very fine specimens of this bird,
at
The Plate represents a m 1

, of the natural size.