Wild ^P Tame Hoopoes 33 



doubted, especially as at that moment the finest of 

 the lot took flight upwards, apparently out of sheer 

 gaiety of spirits, only to be immediately attacked from 

 above by a kite, which swooped at it in a most abomin- 

 ably business-like manner, but the hoopoe gave a 

 twist and a turn, and dodged that evil-minded kite, 

 when to my consternation, and still more, I should 

 imagine, to the hoopoe's, a grey crow dashed up from 

 below. This was a mean manoeuvre, for he thought, 

 " That bird shall be made mince-meat between me and 

 the kite ; we'll sandwich him between us." 



That hoopoe deserved to live, for, with another 

 twist, he fled into an acacia tree close by, and put up 

 his crest at his enemies, in much the same manner as 

 a London street Arab would put up his hand to his 

 nose on escaping from the claws of two policemen. 



It was warm work for a minute or two. 



As to those grey crows, they are real villains, for 

 the next day they did their utmost to work their 

 revenge, actually daring to hop with a great sidelong 

 awkward hop on to the balcony, where, whilst one 

 worried those poor hoopoes on one side of the cage, 

 the other seized a wing and a tail that for a moment 

 showed themselves between the bars, and, with a 

 savage tug, tweaked out a large beakful from both. 



This attack I witnessed from my bedroom window, 

 and those crows, although they saw me, knew perfectly 

 well that they would have time to carry out their 

 wicked designs before I could dash on to the balcony. 

 It was fortunate for them that I couldn't get at them ! 

 By the time that the hoopoes were thoroughly hungry, 



