BLACK HOOPOE. 141 



wing is a white spot, the tips of two or three of 

 the larger coverts being of that colour : the legs 

 and feet are yellowish. It is a native of the Island 

 of Madagascar, as well as of some of the smaller 

 African isles, and is said to feed on seeds and 

 berries. 



From the structure of the tongue in this bird it 

 should seem to be nearly related to the genus 

 Merops or Bee-Eater. It is figured in the Planches 

 Enluminees, and in the much more superb publi- 

 cation of Monsr. Viellot, who suspects an error in 

 the measure of this bird in the ornithology of 

 Buffon ; the two specimens in the Paris Museum 

 measuring only ten inches in length. 



BLACK HOOPOE. 



Upupa nigra. U. tota nigra. 

 Hoopoe entirely black. 



Une espece de Huppe dont le plumage est entierment noir. Son- 

 nini Buff. 54. p. 18?. note. 



OF this species nothing but its existence and 

 native country seems to be known. It is men- 

 tioned by Sonnini, on the authority of Monsr. 

 Viellot, who affirms that it is found in Africa, 

 towards the kingdom of Congo. 



