440 THE HOOPOE 



But the natural inclination of the bird seems now to be towards 

 seclusion and secrecy. From tree to tree he flits, often, too, settling 

 on the ground, and constantly uttering his call. Should a rival male 

 appear before each pair is settled down, a fight is sure to ensue, and 

 it is quite a common sight to see the two cocks sparring with one 

 another like gamecocks, leaping and fluttering in the air over one 

 another, while the hen looks on with a studied air of indifference. 

 Some of these fights are severe, and on one occasion in Spain I came 

 across two males which were so engrossed in their struggle that they 

 allowed me to approach within a few yards, and seemed much 

 exhausted. M. Necker also says that after a fight the ground is at 

 times strewn with their feathers. 



Little has been recorded of the courtship of this species. Full 

 use, of course, is made of the crest, and no doubt the boldly barred 

 wings are also displayed, but as a rule one only gets a glimpse of the 

 bird calling among the branches of the trees, or quietly and sedately 

 walking about with his mate on the ground. Both sexes take part in 

 the work of house-hunting. One sees male and female disappearing 

 in turn in the recesses of a dry stone wall, or in a wood unexpectedly 

 flushes one bird from a hollow in a tree, where he or she has been 

 prospecting for a likely site ; but, somehow, they seem to feel instinc- 

 tively that they are being watched, and operations are at once 

 suspended sine die. The nest is generally in a cranny or hole of a 

 tree, or else in a wall or rock crevice. The hoopoe has, however, 

 been known to breed in a rabbit-hole, and has recently been known 

 to take to a nesting-box. Heaps of stones also furnish possible sites, 

 while drains have been utilised, and the nest has been found under- 

 neath a big boulder on a hillside. Pallas found a pair breeding in the 

 decayed chest of a rotting corpse, loosely covered with stones, and 

 notes that an open coffin in China forms a favourite nesting-place, 

 and in Eastern Europe many nests are built in holes of mud walls. 

 Some nests are quite low down, others nearly twenty feet from the 

 ground. The entrance to the hole is preferably rather narrow, and 



