168 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



I at first thought it a double-yolked specimen, which it was 

 not, and several naturalists agree with me that it is that of 

 a Cuckoo. 



UPUPID^. 



HOOPOE. 



Upupa epojjs. 



This species makes its appearance almost every spring, prin- 

 cipally in April, and again pays us an autumnal visit. Its 

 occurrences are too numerous to need individual notice, and 

 it has in very few instances bred in the county. The earliest 

 on record, that I am aware of, was at Southwick, near Shore- 

 ham, where a pair hatched their young in a hole in an ash- 

 tree on the village green. They were for some time in the 

 possession of Mr. Waring Kidd, of Brighton. I visited the 

 spot, and examined the remains of the nest, which was on a 

 bed of rotten wood, quite soaked with a most horribly 

 odorous mass of putrid matter. In another instance, a pair 

 hatched their young in a tree at Park End, Chichester, about 

 the year 1835, as is recorded by Mr. Jesse in his ' Gleanings ' 

 (vol. iii. p. 148). 



I saw an example of this bird on my lawn, on the 14th of 

 April 1882, and watched it for some time searching for food 

 among the grass, using its bill as a man would a pickaxe, 

 which instrument, supposing the head and neck to form the 

 handle, and the bill and folded crest the rest of the tool, was 

 thereby not badly represented. I did not hear it utter any 

 note, nor did I see it erect its crest. When disturbed, its 

 flight greatly resembled that of the Jay, but was more 

 buoyant. 



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