390 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. ” 
smartly rapped on some hard surface, and most are tossed into 
the air. The flight is strong, undulating, and seldom protracted, 
though Hoopoes often escape from Hawks; they can also run 
rapidly. The nest, placed in holes in trees, walls, or rocks, con- 
sists of a little straw or a few twigs, with some feathers or hair ; 
it is always, however, marked by the addition of ordure to the 
lining, and sites are on record in coffins or decaying bodies." 
During incubation the cock feeds the hen, who hardly stirs from 
her post; the eggs number from four to seven, and are pale 
Fic. 84—Hoopoe. Upupa epops. xi. (From Natural History of Selborne.) 
ereenish-blue with distinct pores. These birds are fond of dust- 
ing themselves in loose soil; the male is decidedly pugnacious, 
except in captivity; and the flesh is considered a delicacy in 
Southern Europe. Arabs venerate them and ascribe to them 
medicinal properties. Most persons are familiar with the story 
of Allah granting to Epops a golden crest, exchanged afterwards 
at the bird’s request for one of feathers. 
Upupa epops not unfrequently visits Britain, where it has 
nested on several occasions ; it breeds from Southern Scandinavia 
to Northern Africa and the Atlantic Islands, migrating a little 
' In the Upupinae and Trrisorinae the oil-gland of the incubating female, and 
also of the young, produces a stinking secretion. 
