THE HOOPOE 143 



able king-crows dare not take liberties with them. The 

 other day, as I was walking through a compound, I 

 came across a pair of hoopoes feeding on the grass. 

 A king-crow, which was perched on a tree hard by, 

 made a dash at an insect and passed close to one of 

 the hoopoes. The latter appeared to regard this as an 

 affront, for he pecked savagely at the passing king- 

 crow ; the latter, having no mind to act as a target for 

 the hoopoe, changed its course. Presently it had oc- 

 casion again to pass quite close to the hoopoe, and the 

 latter again pecked at it viciously. The king- crow 

 then decided to go and hunt insects in a less dangerous 

 place. 



Hoopoes are, upon the whole, silent birds. They 

 sometimes emit a curious little note, which Colonel 

 Cunningham syllabizes as " uk, iik, iik, uk, iik." They 

 can boast of no kind of song. 



Like the common barn-door fowl and a great many 

 other birds, hoopoes indulge in a daily dust -bath. 

 Sometimes one may surprise them just before sunset 

 rubbing their feathers in the soft cleansing powder 

 which lies in a thick layer upon the less-frequented 

 parts of the road. I have never seen a hoopoe bath- 

 ing in water ; I have an idea that the bird, like cats 

 and Tibetans, and unlike Scotsmen, has a theory that 

 water is injurious to the skin and should be only ad- 

 ministered internally. 



Both sexes are clothed alike, and as they are showy 

 birds one would surmise that the hoopoe nests in a 

 hole. This surmise is correct. The birds will build 

 in almost any description of hole, in a cavity in the 



