1903 The Hoopoe 327 



To many the legend of the hoopoe's tuft, which is so 

 charmingly told in Curzon's Monasteries of the Levant, is 

 familiar, but I venture to give a shortened form of it. 

 Solomon was making one of his journeys on the magic 

 carpet when the sun struck hard upon the monarch's head. 

 He appealed to several flights of birds passing to protect 

 him, but they began one and all to make excuse. At last 

 he appealed to some hoopoes, and their king answered, " O 

 King, we are but little birds, but we will gather our nation 

 together, and by our numbers we will make up for our 

 small size ! " In gratitude Solomon offered their king any 

 reward for their service. The king of the hoopoes took 

 a day to think, and then asked that they might have a 

 golden crown on their heads. This was granted. There 

 was, however, in those days a certain fowler who, by means 

 of a broken mirror, caught some vainglorious hoopoes, 

 and took the crown to Isaachar Ben Jacob, who gave him 

 a quarter of a shekel for it, as being a crown of brass. 

 But ere long it leaked out that the crown was of gold, and 

 the Jewish fowler, intent on gain, pursued the unfortunate 

 birds as relentlessly as the modern gunner does those 

 straggling specimens which appear in England. In peni- 

 tence at his vanity, the king of the hoopoes went to 

 Solomon and related the misfortune that had fallen upon 

 his race, and Solomon kindly changed the crown of gold 

 into a tuft of brilliant feathers, " that ye may walk un- 

 harmed upon the earth." As above hinted, this promise 

 has not been fulfilled, for the plumage of the bird and its 

 flight still tempt man to destroy it, though, I believe, none 

 but the unspeakable Turk have been known to eat it. As 

 a rule, when flying, it is careless, and offers an easy mark ; 

 but, if frightened when on the ground, it spreads out its 

 wings wide, bends its head so that the crimson crest rests 

 on its back, and waits thus with the beak pointing upwards 

 until the danger be past. The position is a clever one, for 

 not only does its plumage assimilate with the surrounding 

 light and shade, but its beak is in the best position to 

 defend its body. 



I have spoken of the past of the hoopoe and its exist- 

 ence in Southern Europe, but my object in writing was to 



VOL. II. — NO. 8. Y 



