HOOPOES. 



411 



hoopoes proper have a peculiar erectile crest on the head, a square short tail ; that 

 they jwssess no metallic colors, and that the sternal notches are open ; their habits are 

 terrestrial. The wood-hoopoes, as the name indicates, are arboreal, have no crest, a 

 biackisli glossy plumage of nielallic reflections, and a very long graduated tail ; the 

 notches of the breastbone ai-e closed behind so as to form foramina. 



The former of these suImII visions, the Upupid^, is composed of about six species 

 belonging to the genus Upupa, the typical species of which is figured in the accompa- 

 nying wood-cut, which gives a good idea of this striking looking bird ; and we have 

 only to imagine the Iiiglily-shaded jiortioiis of the upper half of the bird, including the 



Fig. 203. — Irrisor erythmrhynchos^ wood-hoopoe. 



crest, colored witli a rusty buff color, which is jialcr mid somewhat pinkisli on the 

 breast, in order to have a ])icture which will ]irevent ns from ever tnistaking a hoopoe, 

 whether met with in nature or in the museum. The hoopoes are confined to the 

 warmer portions of the Old World: but the species fienred, U.ejnps^h also found 

 in the southern j>arts of the P:ila>arctic region, including Eurojie. It is a bird of ter- 

 restrial habits, feeding on worms and insects, which it extracts from their holes in the 

 earth by means of its long pli.able, somewhat snipe-like bill. That such a striking bird 

 has not escajied the fate of i)laying a great role in all sorts of superstition is quite 

 natural, the more so since its voice, from which arc derived its different names, is 



