HOOPOES AT THE NESTING SEASON 193 



either to the crow or to its mate ; it was assuredly no 

 time, ** no matter for his swelhngs nor his turkey 

 cocks." 



On the 25th April the young hoopoe began to call 

 even when its parents were not at the nest. Each 

 time they brought food it uttered a series of squeaks 

 much like those that emanate from a cycle pump when 

 air is being pumped through it into a nearly fully 

 inflated tyre. By this time the young bird had 

 developed to such an extent that when a parent 

 arrived it would push its head through the aperture 

 of the nest hole. 



On the 26th April the young bird left the nest. 

 Assuming that the 17th March was the day when the 

 hen began to sit, we find the young bird emerging 

 from the nest forty days later. It is, however, im- 

 probable that I noticed the cock feeding the hen on 

 the very first day of incubation. It is my belief that 

 young hoopoes do not leave the nest for fully a month 

 after they are hatched. When they do leave the nest 

 they differ very little in appearance from the adult. 

 They have the crest and the colouring fully developed. 

 The only difference is that the bill is not quite so long 

 or so curved. 



From the time the bird emerges from the nest until 

 the moment when it is gathered unto its fathers, the 

 hoopoe's plumage does not undergo any change in 

 appearance. This being so I am puzzled to know what 

 a correspondent meant when he recently wrote to the 

 Field about a hoopoe in full breeding plumage that 

 appeared in Yorkshire. 



