UPUPID.-E. 



285 









THE HOOPOE. 

 Upupa epops, Linnaeus. 



The Hoopoe has been noticed for more than two centuries as a 

 visitor to Great Britain, and in spring it arrives so regularly on our 

 southern and eastern coasts that, if unmolested, it would soon become 

 one of our regular breeding species. The appearance of this tame 

 and conspicuous bird is, however, the signal for its persecution unto 

 death, and I am afraid to say how many have been slain in certain 

 localities in Sussex and Kent where they alight after crossing the 

 Channel. In spite of their inhospitable reception a few pairs 

 manage to escape, and some have nested from time to time in 

 Devon, Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and probably 

 other counties. In autumn many individuals are observed in our 

 eastern counties, especially on the coast after gales ; some even in 

 winter : for instance, a bird frequented Scampston in Yorkshire for 

 a week in the early part of January 1S96; while several were 

 noticed in the exceptionally mild January of 1898. In the west of 

 England and in South Wales the Hoopoe is not rare, but north- 

 ward it is seldom seen ; though it has occurred irregularly in Scot- 

 land as far as Sutherland and Caithness, as well as in the Orkneys, 

 Shetlands, and Outer Hebrides. To Ireland it is an almost annual 

 visitor in small numbers, principally to the southern portion. 



Accidentally the Hoopoe has been taken in the Freroes, Spitsber- 



