THE HOOPOE 



[ORDER: Coraciiformu. FAMILY: Upupidas] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[P. C. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



HOOPOE [Upupa ipops Linnaeus. French, huppe; German, Wiedehopf; 

 Italian, bubbola]. 



1. Description. The long crest, curved beak, and the richly contrasted 

 masses of cinnamon, black, and white serve to distinguish the hoopoe from all other 

 British birds. The sexes are alike in coloration, and the young differ but little from 

 the adults. There is no seasonal change of plumage. (PI. 86.) Length, 12 in. [304*79 

 mm.]. The crest, formed of a double row of feathers running down on either side 

 of the middle line of the crown, is of a rich cinnamon-buff, tipped with black, the 

 hindmost feathers being, commonly, a bar of white below the black. The hind- 

 neck, throat, fore-neck, and breast are of a pale vandyke-brown strongly overlaid 

 with buff. Interscapulars and scapulars pale vandyke-brown, the hind region 

 with a broad semicircular band of buff bounded on either side by an equally broad 

 band of black. Rump white. Lesser wing-coverts pale brown. Minor coverts 

 black, the hindmost broadly tipped with buff ; the median coverts have the basal 

 half buff, the rest black, while the major coverts are buff with broad black tips. 

 The primaries and secondaries are black, crossed, in the outstretched wing, with a 

 treble band of white, but in the secondaries the white gradually changes to buff 

 as the inner series are approached ; the two innermost feathers have each a broad 

 band of buff along the margin of the outer web and a streak of buff along the inner 

 side of the shaft. The tail is black, crossed, near its middle, by a broad white 

 chevron, the limbs of which are directed backwards. The flanks are white, more 

 or less conspicuous with dusky streaks, while the abdomen and under tail-coverts are 

 white. The female differs from the male only in being somewhat smaller, rather duller, 

 and in having a smaller crest. The juvenile plumage resembles that of the female. 

 Young birds can be most readily distinguished by their shorter beaks, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. The breeding range of this species extends over the 



