68 THE SUNBIRDS AND THE HOOPOE. 



to birds, while their presence is a protection against 

 prying crows and squirrels. The nest is usually built 

 in March or April, and the eggs, of which there are two 

 (I once found three), are pure white, just like little 

 sugar comfits. 



It is a wide step from the Flowerpecker to the 

 Hoopoe, a bird about the size of a Myna, or Starling, 

 which in the Fauna of British India appears in the 

 company of Hornbills and Kingfishers. If I could get 

 anybody to support me, I would advance the theory 

 that it is a species of land snipe. Its beak is more than 

 two inches in length and very slender, and just as the 

 snipe thrusts its sensitive forceps into soft mud for 

 aquatic worms, so the Hoopoe probes the dry land and 

 draws out " ant-lions " and other subterranean grubs. 

 The legs of the snipe are long, for it has to wade in 

 water, but those of the Hoopoe are very short indeed, 

 so that it is obliged to carry its body very level in order 

 to keep its tail off the ground. This, together with 

 its erect neck and prim gait, gives it the appearance 

 of being a very precise sort of person, which no 

 doubt it is. It is always exquisitely dressed, in a 

 suit of reddish fawn, with the skirts (called in bird 

 language, wings and tail) of some black material, 

 with broad white bars, which flash out with beautiful 

 effect when it starts to fly. On its crown it wears a 

 crest, which is usually folded down and projects 

 behind, giving its head and neck the appearance of 

 a toy pickaxe ; but at times, when it is startled, and 

 always in the act of alighting, the feathers start up 

 into a lovely corona of cinnamon red bordered with 

 black. The Hoopoe is found all over India and 

 may be seen occasionally on Cumballa Hill and 



