332 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Family UPUPID/@, or HOOPOES. 
The Hoopoes are a very small and very isolated family. They are 
associated by Sclater with the Kingfishers, the Rollers, the Bee-eaters, 
the Hornbills, and some other birds; but Forbes placed them with the 
Kingfishers and the Woodpeckers, whilst Gadow regards them as nearest 
allied to the Hornbills and the Kingfishers. The sternum has only one 
notch on each side of the posterior margin, as in the Passerine birds. 
Huxley places them between the Hornbills and the Bee-eaters ; but in 
their pterylosis they are said to resemble the Kingfishers more than the 
Hornbills. In their digestive organs they resemble both these families ; 
they are also said to resemble the Hornbills in their myology. 
The Hoopoes have two complete moults in the year, in March and 
September. 
Sclater removes the African Wood-Hoopoes into a separate family, 
Trrisoridze, which differ in many respects from the true Hoopoes, being 
without crests and having metallic colours on the plumage. The notch 
on each side of the posterior margin of the sternum is closed at the 
entrance. If we divide the Upupide into two subfamilies, the Upupine 
and Irrisorinz, the true Hoopoes will be comprised in one genus. Both 
subfamilies agree in having a slender curved bill, rounded wings composed 
of ten primaries, tail of ten feathers, and the hind toe and claw well 
developed, as in the Passeride. 
Only half a dozen species of Hoopoes are known, which have a very 
restricted range. They inhabit the southern portion of the Palearctic 
Region, and the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions, but in the latter they 
are absent from the Indo-Malayan Subregion. One species only is found 
in Europe, which occasionally visits our islands. 
Genus UPUPA. 
The genus Upupa was recognized by Linneus in the 12th edition of 
his ‘Systema Nature,’ i. p. 183, published in 1766. U. epops (the Upupa 
upupa of Brisson) is the type. 
The Hoopoes have long, slender, and slightly curved bills, but may be 
distinguished by their well-developed erectile crests. The wings are long, 
