298 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



UPUPA EPOPS, Linnseus. 

 HOOPOE. 



Of all our rarer migratory visitants there is none 

 whose appearance is more regularly noted than the 

 Hoopoe, its singular plumage striking the most indif- 

 ferent observer, and, unfortunately, in almost every 

 instance insuring its destruction. Although the 

 annual notices of its persecution, in our local and 

 natural history journals, belie the stereotyped heading 

 of "rara avis," no specimen is safe for an instant 

 on our inhospitable shores, and many an oppor- 

 tunity of examining the peculiar habits, in a wild 

 state, of this very interesting bird are lost to the 

 naturalist through the greed of collectors. That they 

 have of late years visited us in larger numbers, and 

 with far more regularity than they used to do, is a fact 

 well ascertained, although the cause of such a change 

 in their habits is not quite so apparent. It can scarcely, 

 however, be said of this species as of some others, for 

 the very reasons above given, that its appearance 

 amongst us now, is more observed than formerly, since 

 Sir Thomas Brown thus refers to it ; " Upupa or hoope- 

 bird, so named from its note ; a gallant marked bird, 

 which I have often seen, and it is not hard to shoot 



* The same learned author, in " an answer to certain queries 

 relating to fishes, birds, and insects," gives the following addi- 

 tional notes on this species (Wilkin's edition, vol. iv., p. 183) : 

 " I cannot wonder that this bird you sent should be a stranger 

 unto you, and unto those who had a sight thereof; for, though it 

 be not seen every day, yet we often meet with it in this country. 

 It is an elegant bird, which he that once beholdeth can hardly 

 mistake any other for it. From the proper note it is called an 



