248 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



food, and moulted out very clean, but, though 

 perfectly tame and very spiteful, became restless at 

 the seasons of migration, and spoiled his plumage by 

 constant attempts to escape ; at other times he would 

 sit stolidly on his perch, continually chirping; we 

 once only heard him attempt to say " cuckoo," but 

 the attempt was a grievous failure. This was the 

 only caged bird of this species in our possession 

 which we ever knew to feed itself, or indeed man- 

 aged to keep alive for more than a few months. 

 The Cuckoo is a common summer visitor to all 

 parts of Europe. 



107. HOOPOE. 



Upupa epops. 



The Hoopoe is one of those species which, although 

 it cannot be considered a very rare bird in Great 

 Britain, is not permitted to become common with 

 us, its conspicuous appearance and its fearlessness of 

 man rendering it an easy prize to the first idle fellow 

 with a gun who meets with it on its arrival on 

 our shores. The local birdstuffer will always give 

 a price for a Hoopoe, and, we regret to say, in many 

 instances obtains a much higher one from those 

 collectors who attach a perfectly fictitious value to a 

 bird (however common it may be on the continent) 

 because it has been murdered in our own country. 

 This species generally visits our shores in the spring : 

 several instances of its having nested in England 

 are on record ; and were it not for the causes above 

 mentioned, this most ornamental and harmless bird 

 would in all probability become a common and w r ell- 



