i822 THE PICARIAN BIRDS 



winter home appears to be in Senegambia, Southeastern Africa, and the peninsula, 

 of India. In the latter area it probably intergrades with the resident species, 

 which has no white subterminal bar on the crest feathers, although many inter- 

 mediate specimens are met with, showing an indication of a more or less perfect 

 white bar, and are doubtless the result of crossing. The sexes of the common 

 hoopoe are alike in color, and the young birds resemble the adults, but have 

 a more fluffy plumage. Breeding as a rule in hollow trees, the hoopoe is now 

 become rare in those parts of the Continent where the country has been denuded 

 of timber. Like the hornbills, the female has the habit of sitting very closely 

 on her eggs, during which period she is fed by her mate. Lord Lilford writes 

 that hoopoes generally ' ' prefer a hole in a hollow ash or willow for nesting in " ; 

 but I have seen a nest on the ground under a large stone, others in holes on the 

 sunny side of mud or brick walls, one in a fissure of limestone rock, and one in 

 a small cavern. The eggs when first laid are of a beautiful pale greenish 

 blue, but soon become stained and dirty, so that the average hoopoe's egg is 

 of a dirty yellow color. Swinhoe, again, writing from China, observes that 

 ' ' many years ago a pair of hoopoes took possession of a hole in the city wall 

 at Amoy, near my house. The hen sat close until the young were hatched, the 

 male frequently supplying her with food during the day. Hoopoes have often 

 bred in the holes of exposed Chinese coffins; the natives hence have an objection 

 to them, and brand them as the 'coffin bird.' The young, when hatched, are 

 naked, but soon get covered with small blue quills, which yield the feathers. 

 The little creature has a short bill, and crouches forward, making a hissing 

 noise. It looks a strange compound of the young wryneck and kingfisher. They 

 do not stand upright till nearly fledged. Their crests develop at once, but their 

 bills do not acquire their full length till the following year." A correspondent 

 of Blyth's at Calcutta, who was one of the first to draw attention to the circum- 

 stance of the nesting hen being fed by the cock, writes that two pairs of these 

 birds, nesting in his veranda, became so tame that his presence never disturbed 

 them in the least; and he twice saw the males with the females just at the 

 bottom of the steps, and within ten yards of where he was sitting. ' ' I was there- 

 fore," he continues, " thoroughly familiar with them, and can assert most positively 

 that for a number of days I never saw the female of either pair out. I did not 

 pay any attention at first to the circumstance of there being only two flying about, 

 until I observed both males going up to the nest with gnats in their bills, giving a 

 call, and then putting their heads inside for the hens to take the food. The feeding 

 times were morning and evening, at regular hours the former about seven or 

 eight o'clock, and again in the afternoon about four o'clock. I have seen the males 

 getting the gnats, etc., close under the very steps I was sitting on, and almost 

 within two yards of my chair, then flying up, giving a call, and coming down again 

 directly the food was taken. The nests were at opposite ends of the veranda, 

 and only one of the broods came out. I saw some time ago a notice in the Field, 

 mentioning the dirty state of the nest, before this could have been caused by the 

 young; and, if my idea is correct, the explanation is simple. I never saw the 

 males go inside the holes in which the nests were, and I never saw either of the 



