148 COMMON HOOPOE. 



body are chiefly of a reddish-yellow colour. The legs 

 are red. 



Crab-eating Kingfisher. The present species are 

 found in Senegal and the Cape de Verd Islands. It is 

 remarkable for subsisting almost wholly on different spe- 

 cies of crabs, with which it sometimes quite fills its hole. 



It is about twelve inches in length. The tail is long, 

 and the plumage blue green above, and tawny beneath. 

 A black band extends from the eyes backward. The 

 tail is long, and the wing-coverts, and tips of the quill- 

 feathers, are black. The bill and legs are of a ferruginous 

 red colour. 



14. HOOPOE TRIBE. 



The Hoopoes feed on insects and their grubs, and par- 

 ticularly on those of the different kinds of beetles. It is 

 stated that they delight in frequenting dunghills, and 

 other nauseous places. 



Common Hoopoe. This rare visitant of our islands is 

 found in various parts of the continent of Europe, as well 

 as of Africa and Asia. Beautiful as it is in its plumage, it 

 feeds chiefly on those insects which are found in putrid 

 animal bodies, and the most nauseous and disgusting sub- 

 stances. It lays its eggs, which are generally from two 

 to four in number, in hollow trees, sometimes in holes of 

 walls, or even on the ground. And, from the putrid re- 

 mains of the food with which it supplies its young, the 

 nest becomes excessively fetid and offensive. Hoopoes 

 are, for the most part, solitary birds, more than two of 

 them being seldom seen together. When surprised or 

 irritated, they erect their crest and tail, and thus strut 





