138 BLUE-CRESTED HOOPOE. 



the plains are left covered by a coat of slime, 

 swarming with immense numbers of insects ; and 

 accordingly the wild or migratory Hoopoes are 

 fat, and a delicious food, while those which fre- 

 quent the city of Cairo, where they breed in full 

 security on the house-tops, are uneatable. It is 

 indeed easy to conceive that -such as live in the 

 plains must be better food than those which fre- 

 quent the streets or environs of a large city ; the 

 former subsisting on the insects inhabiting the 

 ground, while the latter prowl among all kinds of 

 filth ; a circumstance which cannot fail to commu- 

 nicate an offensive odor to their flesh." 



The flight of the Hoopoe is observed to be 

 rather slow and undulating than strong and rapid, 

 and the bird is generally seen on the surface of 

 the ground, being very rarely observed to perch 

 on trees. 



VAR. ? 

 BLUE-CRESTED HOOPOE. 



This supposed variety rests on the authority of 

 the Marquis Gerini, author of a work on Italian 

 ornithology, and who affirms that he observed it 

 at Florence, and again on the Alps, near the town 

 of Rota, and that it differs from the Common 

 Hoopoe in having the crest-feathers tipped with 

 sky-blue instead of black. 



