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THE HOOPOE. 



It is common in some parts of the Continent, and by no 

 means wild, for we have seen it on the ground, and on the 

 trees in a public walk at Seville, but is most abundant in 

 Egypt and Arabia, where they are called the children of 

 Solomon, from a tradition that they formed part of the cargo 

 of the "navy of Tarshish," bringing to him from Ophir, 

 "gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" (i Kings 

 x. 22). It is currently believed by the people of the country 



The Hoopoe. 



that its crest was then a crown of gold ; but that the avidity 

 of mankind for this precious metal occasioning the birds to be 

 often killed for their crowns, they assembled together, and 

 represented their case to Solomon himself. This monarch, in 

 his great wisdom, understood the languages of all animals, as 

 well as of all people on the face of the earth; and hearing 

 and pitying their case, he prayed to their Creator to ameliorate 

 their destiny, when the crown of gold was instantly changed 

 to a crest of feathers, of equal, if not still greater beauty. 



The Kingfisher, rivalling, if not exceeding, the Bee-eater 

 in the blues and greens of its beautiful plumage, is also much 

 more common. Most of our readers may probably have seen 

 it darting in the direction of a brook-course, like a flying 



