HOOPOE. 425 



Mahometans it is by law forbidden as unclean. Of the part 

 played by the Hoopoe in Egyptian and classical mythology, 

 and in the traditions and pharmacopoeia of the Arabs, there is 

 not here space to tell. 



This bird in summer has several times wandered to the 

 most northern parts of Norway, and in 1868 one was taken 

 in Spitsbergen, but in Scandinavia it has been only known to 

 breed in Denmark — though not recently, in the extreme south 

 of Sweden and in Gottland and (Eland. It is but rarely 

 observed in Finland, and in Eussia does not seem, according 

 to Dr. Sabanejev, to go northward of the Jaroslav Govern- 

 ment, though abundant in the south, and on the Asiatic border 

 hardly attains lat. 60° N. Further eastward its northern 

 limit has not been laid down, but it is very common in 

 Western Siberia, is found in Dauuria, even on the high 

 plains, and thence through Amoorland to the Pacific. It is 

 included among the birds of Japan, and in China occurs from 

 Pekin to Canton, being resident in parts at least of that 

 empire. To the south its range is as yet ill-defined, for 

 Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser incline to believe that the Hoopoe 

 of the Indo-Chinese countries may be specifically separated 

 under the name of Upupa longirostris ; but the true U. epops 

 is certainly found throughout India, though perhaps only as 

 a winter-visitant — what is believed to be a third species, 

 U. inclica, being the perennial form in that country.* Thence 

 our Hoopoe prevails throughout South-western Asia to Egypt 

 and Nubia, where it is resident. In Abyssinia as also in 

 Senegal it seems to occur only in winter, but its southern 

 limits in Africa require further investigation. t North of the 

 Sahara U. epops is very abundant ; it is common in the 

 Canaries, and occurs in Madeira and the Azores. Through- 

 out the Mediterranean islands it is a well-known bird-of- 



* Another reputed species, U. nigripennis, inhabits Southern India and 

 Ceylon, but Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser unite it to U. meUca. 



f From Zambesia on the east to Uenguela on the west U. epops is replaced by 

 what the authors last named term a distinct and excellent species, U. africana 

 (U. minor and U. dccorata of some writers), which extends to the Cape of Good 

 Hope. A very closely-allied form, V. murginata, seems to be peculiar to 

 Madagascar. 



