CERTHIAD. 261 
appears to consist almost entirely of insects and 
their larve, beetles, worms and grubs. 
Although included amongst the Scansores, this 
bird is not much, if anything, of a climber: it seeks 
its food almost entirely on the ground ; it has neither 
the reversed claw nor the stiff tail-feathers of the real 
climbers; its beak, however, is something like that 
of the Creeper. 
The nest is usually placed in a hole either in a 
tree or a wall, or rock; the bare ground, however, is 
occasionally made use of.* 
In plumage and general appearance the Hoopoe is 
a very peculiar bird, and when once seen is not very 
easily mistaken, even by the most careless observer. 
The beak is long and curved, like that of the 
Creeper, black at the tip and for nearly two-thirds of 
its length, pale flesh-colour at the base; irides 
brown ;+ it has a very long crest, the feathers of 
which rise from the forehead and increase in length 
towards the top of the head—they are of a brightish 
fawn-colour, tipped with black; the sides of the head 
and back of the neck are rather paler in colour; 
across the back are three half-circular bars, one of 
white between two of black; the rump is white; the 
upper tail-coyerts white at the base and _ black 
towards the tip; the feathers on the shoulder are of 
* Meyer’s ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iv., p. 27. 
+ Yarrell, vol. 11., p. 186. 
