XXX 



HOOPOES AT THE NESTING SEASON 



UK-UK-UK — soft and clear ; uk-uk-uk — 

 gentle and monotonous pipes the nodding 

 hoopoe with splendid pertinacity through- 

 out the month of February. This is 

 the prelude to nesting operations. From mid- February 

 till mid-March hoopoes' eggs to the number of several 

 millions are laid annually in India. During the 

 months of March and April considerably over a million 

 hoopoes emerge from the egg. In Northern India 

 during the month of April it is scarcely possible to 

 find an adult hoopoe who is not employed from sunrise 

 to sunset in digging insects out of the ground with 

 feverish haste and flying with them to the holes in 

 which the youngsters are calling lustily. 



But let me begin at the beginning. Ordinarily the 

 Indian hoopoe {Upupa indica) is as sedate and prim 

 as a maiden lady of five-and-fifty summers. At the 

 season of courtship the hoopoes cast aside their prim- 

 ness to some extent. But even at that festive time 

 the cock does not, like the king-crow and the roller, 

 disturb the whole neighbourhood by his noisy love 

 songs. In his wildest moments his voice is never loud. 



185 



