THE HOOPOES. 59 



The Hoopoes may be divided into two Families, the True 

 Hoopoes (Upupidce) and the Wood-Hoopoes (Irrisoridce). 

 The latter are peculiar to the forest- and bush-districts of Africa, 

 and have a good deal of metallic colour in their plumage. 

 The tail is very long and wedge-shaped, and the nostril has a 

 well-developed operculum, or shelf, to it. 



THE TRUE HOOPOES. FAMILY UPUPID^. 



This Family contains but a single genus, Upupa, with five 

 species, all very much resembling each other in appearance. 

 They have an erectile crest, shaped like a compressed fan and 

 ornamented with a sub-terminal bar of black. The bill is 

 long and slender and decurved towards the end. The other 

 principal characters will be found under the heading of the 

 Sub-order. 



THE HOOPOES. GENUS UPUPA. 



Upupa> Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 183. 



Type, U. epops. Linn. 



Of the five species known to science, the Common Hoopoe 

 has the widest distribution in Europe, South-eastern and North- 

 western Africa, eastwards to China and Japan, as well as the 

 Peninsula of India, in the southern portion of which its place 

 is taken by the Indian Hoopoe (U. indica\ which extends 

 throughout the Burmese countries to Southern China and 

 Hainan. In Somali-land a distinct species, U. soma/ensis, 

 occurs, and in Madagascar U. marginata takes the place of our 

 European bird. The fifth species, U. africana, is found over 

 South Africa, and extends to the Congo on the west and to 

 Zanzibar on the east ; it is a smaller and more richly-coloured 

 bird, and has no white band on the primaries. 



I. THE COMMON HOOPOE. UPUPA EPOPS. 



Upupa epops, Linn. S. N. i. p. 183 (1766); Macg. Br. B. iii. 

 p. 41 (1840); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 179, pi. 298 (1871); 

 Newton, ed. Yarr. ii. p. 419 (1874) ; B. O.U. List Br. B. 

 p. 83 (1883) ; Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 334 (1884) ; Lilford, 

 Col. Fig. Br. B. part vii. (1888) ; Saunders, Man. p. 275 

 (1889); Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 4 (1892). 



