The Bee-Eater 



green ; lores and ear coverts black ; tail green, two central 

 feathers elongated and tipped with black. Throat yellow ; 

 a black band across the lower neck ; under parts greenish 

 blue. Length 11 '2 5 in.; wing 6 in. 



HOOPOE 



Upupa epops, Linnaeus 



In the spring of every year, with unfailing regularity, a 

 few misguided individuals of this interesting bird seek the 

 hospitality of our shores, and, were they unmolested, would 

 eventually settle as one of our permanent summer visitors 

 in the southern counties. Unfortunately, apart from its 

 striking plumage, which cannot fail to arrest attention, it 

 is of a very confiding nature, stalking about lawns and 

 grass fields with its peculiar walk, while it prods the 

 ground with its long biU in search of grubs and insects. 

 Such a sight is too much for the so-called collector or 

 ignorant loafer, whose only idea on seeing a strange bird is 

 to kill it, and thus it happens that our would-be guest 

 either reposes as a fearful caricature in a glass case till 

 moth and rust have done their work, or is frightened off 

 to some other country where his appearance excites less 

 curiosity and murder. From time to time, however, pro- 

 tected by some enlightened farmer or landowner, this 

 species has been spared to pass the summer unmolested, 

 and, choosing a hollow tree, preferably in an orchard or 

 near some open grass fields, has reared a young brood to 



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