254 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



odd position, probably to deceive the enemy ; 

 for when thus spread out, at a little distance it 

 looks more like an old parti-coloured rag than 

 a living bird. 



The Hoopoe lives a good deal on the ground 

 where it finds its chief food, which consists of 

 beetles of various kinds, and their larvae, cater- 

 pillars, and ants. It is especially partial to 

 dung-beetles, and may often be seen in search 

 of them upon the roads, where it is also fond of 

 dusting after the manner of a Skylark. But 

 besides picking up a great deal of food from 

 the surface, it also probes beneath the soil where 

 the nature of the ground admits of this, and 

 secures many a worm and lurking grub by 

 means of its long and slender pointed bill. It 

 swallows a beetle or other small morsel just as 

 the Hornbills in the Zoological Society's Gardens 

 swallow the grapes which are thrown to them, 

 that is to say, it seizes it first between the tips 

 of the mandibles, then throwing the head back 

 suddenly, and opening the bill at the same 

 instant, the food is jerked into the gullet with 



