58 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



eastwards through the Burmese countries and Siam to South- 

 ern China. It is further distributed through the Malayan 

 Peninsula and Archipelago to the Philippine Islands, Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, and Celebes. 



Habits, These resemble those of the Common Bee-Eater, 

 and as the species is not likely ever to occur in Great Britain 

 again, a few words only are necessary on this subject. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Hume, it " breeds from March to June, pretty well 

 all over Continental India, in well-cultivated and open country. 

 Like all the rest of the Family, it nests in holes in banks. 

 The holes are rarely less than four feet deep, and sometimes 

 extend to seven feet. In diameter they vary from two to two 

 and a half inches." 



Nest. None as a rule, but sometimes the chamber has a 

 thin lining of grass and feathers, not seen in the nesting-place 

 of any other of the Indian Bee-Eaters. 



Eggs. Four or five in number; pure white, glossy, and nearly 

 round. Axis, o'82-o'97 inch ; diam., o - 67-cr85. 



THE HOOPOES. SUB-ORDER UPUP^E. 



The Hoopoes have a bridged, or " desmognathous," palate, 

 and, like the Bee-Eaters, have the anterior process of the 

 sternum, or breast-bone, perforated, so as to receive the feet; 

 of the coracoid bones. The sternum has two notches on its 

 posterior margin. The oil-gland is tufted ; there are no blind 

 intestines cr caeca, and the spinal feather-tract is forked in the 

 upper back ; of the plantar tendons, the flexor perforans digi- 

 torum is split into three branches, leading to the second, third, 

 and fourth digits, but not to the first, and the hind aspect of 

 the tarsus (planta tarsi) is scaled transversely, as in the Larks. 

 It is evident, therefore, that the Hoopoes have marked Pas- 

 serine affinities, but they are also allied to the Hornbills 

 (Bucerotes\ which they resemble in another curious feature. 

 The nest is placed in the hole of a wall or of a tree, and the^ 

 female is fed by the male during the period of incubation, 

 though she is not plastered in by her husband, as is the case 

 with the Hornbills. 



