202 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



The Demoiselle Heron, by dancing well known, 

 With a bending trachea beneath the breast bone, 

 In attitudes elegant seem*d to delight. 

 While displaying his feathers long, pendent and white. 

 The Hoopoe (**),withtuft,look'd a gallant dragoon; — 

 Seem'd ready as soldier to range in platoon ; 



The Turks call this bird friend and brother; of course, it is mucli 

 respected j a variety, most probably, of the stork. Mr. Southey 

 has described these birds, and the Bittern's Booming^ in the 

 following lines : v 



"The cranes upon the mosque 

 Kept their night clatter still ; 

 When through the gate the early traveller past. 

 And when at evening o'er the swampy plain 

 The Bittern's Boom came far, 

 Distinct in darkness seen — 

 AJjove the low horizon's lingering light 

 Rose the near ruins of Old Babylon." 



Thalaba, vol. i. page 224. 

 ('♦) Order, Vicje, (Linn.) Hoopoe, the Common, the 

 Crested, the Grand Promerops, &c. 

 The genus Upupa, (Linn,) Hoopoe, or Hoop, consists of 

 ten or more species scattered over the warmer climates of the 

 globe. They have as arched, long, slender, convex, a littje 

 compressed, and somewhat obtuse, bill ; nostrils small, at the 

 base of the bill ; tongue obtuse, entire, triangular, very short ; 

 feet formed for walking. The following are the chief: 



The Epops, or Common-Hoopoe, is often seen in this coun- 

 try ; it is a beautiful bird, in length twelve inches, and distin. 

 guished by its enormous tuft of feathers, which rises perpendi- 

 cularly from the crown of the head, and which it can erect 

 or depress at pleasure. The crest feathers are brown, tipt with 

 black ; the back, scapulars, and wings, are crossed with broad 

 bars of white and black j breast and belly white. Found all over 



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