340 AVES SUB-ORDER UPUP^E. 



and at the mercy of her enemies, if she were not fenced in, and in the 

 closing of the fortress she herself assists. A narrow opening is left, through 

 which the male is able to supply her with food. 



At first sight there would appear to be little connection between the 



Hornbills and the Hoopoes, but in our brief account of the Bncerotes we 



were unable to illustrate all the smaller genera such as 



The Hoopoes. Lophocerus, Ocycerus, etc., which are much more like the 



Sub-order Ujmpts. Crested Hoopoes than the larger forms of Hornbills. 



Like the latter birds, the Hoopoes have the fore-part of 



the sternum perforated, so as to receive the feet of the metacoracoids. 



There are two families of Upupce, the true Hoopoes (Upupidce), and the 



Wood-Hoopoes (Irrisoridce). The former are sandy-coloured birds, with a 



large crest and a square tail. The latter are black with a metallic blue or 



bronze gloss, and a long graduated tail. 



The Hoopoe is an inhabitant of temperate Europe and Asia, being 

 represented in certain portions of the Indian Peninsula and the Burmese 



provinces by the Indian Hoopoe (U. 

 indica). Two other species are found 

 in Africa only, and one is peculiar to 

 Madagascar. The Hoopoe nests in a 

 hole, generally in a tree, and the female 

 and young birds are fed by the male. 

 The nest is often made of very filthy 

 materials, but the young do not seem 

 to suffer,, and have the same delicate, 

 soft plumage as the adults, which they 

 resemble even to the possession of the 



Fig. 74.-TH* COMMON HOOPOB c f e **' In North- Western India I saw- 



(Upupa epops). the Hoopoes in small flocks in the open 



fields, and in such places they are great 



devourers of grubs and insects. They usually keep their crests depressed, 

 but raise them when alarmed or excited. The note resembles the syllable 

 hoop, uttered two or three times ; and the late Consul Swinhoe states that 

 from his observations in China, the bird produces its note by puffing out the 

 sides of the neck and hammering on the ground at the production of each 

 note, thus exhausting the air at the end of the series of three notes, which 

 make up its song. The eggs, four to seven in number, when fresh laid, are 

 pale greenish-blue, but fade to a dull olive or yellowish-brown. 



The Bee -eaters are birds of bright plumage, and, as a rule, of slender 



form, with long tails. They resemble the Kingfishers and Hornbills in the 



form of the feet, the toes being joined together, the fourth 



The Bee-Eaters. toe being united to the third toe as far as the last joint, 



"Sub-order and the second toe being united to the middle one for the 



Mesopes. basal joint only. The palate is "bridged" or desmog- 



nathous, and the breast-bone has four notches in its 



hind margin, while the episternal process is perforated to receive the feet of 



the metacoracoids. The Bee-eaters are found in the temperate and tropical 



portions of the Old World. 



In Africa we find the Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters (Dicrocercus), and the 

 Square-tailed Bee-eaters (Melittophagus), while Merops, which has the 

 central tail-feathers elongated, has seventeen species, which are found in 

 Africa, India, China, the Malayan Archipelago, and Australia, one species, 



