THE HOOPOE. 



UP UP A EPOPS. 



NOT a summer elapses without the appearance in 

 different parts of the British Islands of that singular 

 but attractive bird, the Hoopoe. It is, in fact, an 

 annual summer visitant to this country ; and from 

 what has been observed of its habits, there can be 

 no doubt that it would breed here regularly if 

 allowed to remain unmolested. Unfortunately, 

 however, it is too often pursued and wantonly shot 

 as soon as detected, and we are thus deprived of the 

 pleasure of seeing a bird which is as useful as it is 

 ornamental, and of listening to a note which is one 

 of the most singular of any to be heard in the 

 feathered choir. If the thoughtless persons whose 

 first impulse on seeing an uncommon bird is to 

 procure a gun and shoot it would only take as much 

 pains to afford it protection for a time, observe its 



