Mo (JARDEX AM) AVIARY BIRDS. 



J^artriduvs. ami tlit'v shmild always l)c ,i;iveii .soiuetliiiiL:, 

 such as cartli or tuil\ to diu tlioir bills into. Two of the 

 few species of Hoopoes known are found in India, and 

 both are connnon birds, and probably not distingui'^hed 

 from each other by the casual observer. 



The European Hoopoe (Vpupa epops). This bird is 

 about, a foot lonu, of which the bill measures more than 

 two inches. The wings and back are banded broadly 

 witli l)lack and white ; the tail is black with a wliite 

 crescent of which the convexity is towards the root ; the 

 belly is white with dark streaks and the lest of the 

 plumage sandy buff, warming into cinnamon on the crest, 

 which is tipped witli black ; but on the longest feathers 

 there is a white space before the black tip. 



This bird is found in sunnuer all across the temperate 

 j)arts of the Old World, migiating south in winter, at 

 wliicli time it is found in and about Calcutta. It only 

 l)reeds with us in the Western Himalavas, in the months 

 of April and May, laying from four to seven eggs. This 

 is the Hoopoe par excellence, the subject of so many 

 legends ; for it has always attracted the attention of man 

 froni its curious ap})earance and gestui'es. The Romans 

 knew it as Upupa, and the (ireeksas Epops, so that its 

 scientific name is most haj)i>ily classical — a pleasinu relief 

 to 1hi> l>ail)aii>iiis of most scicntilic iKMiicnclat inr. It 

 visits Knuland yeaily. and has been kiu)wn to breed 

 there when alhiwcd to liv(^ hmi: cnoir^h, which is not often, 

 as it is usually shot down on sight. It. is a i)it.y that 

 some Wealthy natuialist docs in.t inipoit a lew dozen 

 irom the continent, and turn them loose, a })i-oceediii,L: 



