122 MUDIE'S DESCRIPTION. 



The Italians call this bird bubbola, most likely on 

 account of its peculiar cry, which resembles the syllables 

 bu, bu, bu, bu, bu, frequently and somewhat rapidly ut- 

 tered, with such a strong, sonorous voice, that it can be 

 heard a great distance, the bird while emitting it keeping 

 concealed among the trees. 



Although strictly a bird of the woods, the Hoopoe may 

 be often seen in search of food in the fields and pastures. 

 It builds its nest usually in the natural hollow of a tree, or 

 in the deserted excavation of a Woodpecker ; it is com- 

 posed outwardly of feathers, and lined with hair of cows or 

 horses. Some authorities say it is made of dry cowdung 

 and roots ; others, grass and feathers. Probably it employs 

 all or any of these materials, as occasion serves. The eggs 

 are said to be from two to five in number, a little more 

 than an inch in length, and of a uniform light grey, or 

 blueish white colour. 



Mudie, speaking of this bird, says : 



The length and slenderness of its bill indicate that it does not 

 find its food in the same places as the Creeper and the Nuthatch. 

 It picks up tadpoles, beetles, and other prey in moist and marshy 

 places, but it builds in the holes of trees or of rocks. They are said 

 to perch low, on the twigs of osiers and other shrubs that grow in 

 marshy places, but in this country they are seldom seen on the 

 perch. They have three calls poon, slowly drawn out and thrice 

 repeated, when they perch ; boo, repeated the same number of times, 

 is the love-note of the male ; and they have a sharp half-hissing 

 half-grating cry when they are alarmed or irritated. Five is about 

 the greatest number of eggs, though there are seldom so many in 

 their northern broods ; but they are said to breed again once, and 

 even twice, in the south. The young are very voracious, and as the 

 substances on which they are fed are very liable to putrefaction, the 

 nests are most oifensive to the smell. That very circumstance 

 shows, however, the value of the birds in keeping the air pure, 

 especially in the hot countries where they are so abundant. 



The Hoopoe walks well, and has the strut of some of the domestic 

 gallinse, and when dismayed it erects its crest and spreads its tail 

 like a fan, in the manner of a turkey-cock. Its flight through the air 

 is by leaps, or undulatory, and to appearance performed with consi- 

 derable labour, but from the long migrations which it makes, it must 

 be capable of long continuance. 



Some derive the name of this bird from its ordinary cry 

 being supposed to resemble the syllables up, up, or pu y 



