UPUPID.E. BIRDS. THE HOOPOE. 



303 



considerable portion of the African continent, but it is 

 most abundant in the south. The general colour of 

 the plumage of this fine species is a brilliant green, 

 both above and below ; the forehead, belly, and tail- 

 coverts, are blue, or greenish-blue ; a black stripe runs 

 from the base of the bill through the eye ; the chin 

 and throat are bright orange-yellow, and this colour is 

 separated from the green of the breast, by a brilliant 

 azure band; the quill-feathers of the wings are of a 

 tine cinnamon-brown colour, and those of the tail dark- 

 green, tipped with white, and gradually increasing in 

 length from the middle outwards, forming a tail as 

 strongly forked as that of a swallow. The length of 

 this bird is about eight inches and a half. The Swal- 

 low-tailed Bee-eater is one of the most brilliant and 

 elegant species of the family. 



THE AZURE-THROATED BEE-EATER (Nyctiornis 

 Athertonif). This species, which is an inhabitant of 

 India, resides solitarily in the deepest recesses of the 

 forests, where it appears to pass a quiet and sedentary 

 existence. It is very shy and wary, so that specimens 

 are obtained with much difficulty. The food of this 

 species consists partly of bees, and other hymenop- 

 terous insects, and partly of beetles, which it captures 

 by watching for their passage from a perch, and then 

 suddenly starting in pursuit of them. This species has 

 a stout bill, more curved than in the preceding forms, 

 and the tail is nearly square at the end. 



The Bee-eaters close the varied series of the Fissi- 

 rostral birds, and we have now to enter upon the consi- 

 deration of a group which presents an equal, if not a 

 greater amount of diversity. 



TEIBE IT. TENUIKOSTRES. 



OF all the groups of passerine birds, this certainly con- 

 tains the most apparently heterogeneous elements, and 

 it is very difficult to give any general characters which 

 shall include the whole. The leading character of the 

 birds composing this tribe, consists in the slenderness 

 of the bill, which is usually elongated, sometimes 

 straight, and sometimes curved. In some of these 

 birds, however, the bill is but little longer than in the 

 slender-billed dentirostral birds belonging to the next 

 tribe ; but there is this difference between them, that 

 in the Tenuirostres, the upper mandible, although 

 acute at the apex, is not hooked, and its margins are 

 not armed with teeth, which are the characteristic 

 marks of the Dentirostres. The Tenuirostral birds are 

 for the most part inhabitants of warm climates, and in 

 nearly all of them, those muscles of the lower larynx 

 which are the agents of song, are entirely wanting. In 

 Mr. George Gray's arrangement, the Tenuirostral birds 

 form five families, some of which include a great 

 number of species; but as little is known of the habits 

 of many of these, we need only refer to the more 

 remarkable examples of each. 



FAMILY L UPUPID^l. 



In the Upupidse, of which the singular European 

 Hoopoe is the type, the bill is long and slender, gently 

 curved throughout its length, and acute at the tip ; 

 the small nostrils are placed close to the base of the 

 bill ; the wings are rather short and rounded ; the 

 tarsi are short and stout, and terminated by three long 

 and strong toes, armed with curved claws of consider- 

 able size. These birds are peculiar to the Eastern 

 hemisphere. 



THE COMMON HOOPOE (Upupa Epops} Plate 8, 

 fig. 25 which is a well-known bird in some parts of 

 Europe, is, however, a bird of passage in that continent; 

 its true home being in Africa, and it is also met with 

 in many parts of Asia. It occurs occasionally, but 

 not rarely in Britain, especially in the southern 

 counties. The Hoopoe measures about twelve inches 



in length ; its head and neck are of a pale brick-red 

 colour ; the back is of a purple red tint in front, 

 reddish-white and banded with black behind ; the 

 wings are black, with some irregular white bands 

 across them, and the tail is black, with a single trans- 

 verse white band. The head is adorned with a grace- 

 ful crest of long feathers, each of which has a black 

 and white tip, and the whole aspect of the bird, with 

 this striking ornament erected, is singularly elegant. 



In their summer migration, the Hoopoes proceed as 

 far to the north as Denmark and Sweden, and they 

 breed in most parts of Europe; but the individuals 

 which visit this country, usually make their appearance 

 in the autumn, and probably come to us from the more 

 northern parts of the European continent, after the 

 breeding season is over. They have, however, been 

 known to breed in this country. The nest is made of 

 a few stalks of grass, mixed with feathers, and is built 

 in the hole of a tree ; the eggs, which are generally 

 five or six in number, are of a pale lavender-grey 

 colour. 



The Hoopoe is generally met with in woods in the 

 vicinity of marshes, where they seek their food, which 

 consists of worms and insects. They walk and run 

 upon the ground with great ease when thus engaged. 

 In the neighbourhood of Bordeaux, these birds are met 

 with in great numbers, upon an extensive range of 

 marshy ground occupied by numerous pollard willows, 

 which are grown there for the sake of their long shoots. 

 The rotten summits of the trunks of these trees are 

 visited by the Hoopoes, which find in them an abun- 

 dant supply of insects. The note of the Hoopoe closely 

 resembles the word hoop, pronounced softly and 

 frequently repeated ; from this the name of the bird 

 is derived. 



THE INDIAN HOOPOE (Upupa nigripennis] is a 

 species very nearly allied to the preceding, from which 

 it differs principally by its shorter and blacker wings, 

 and by the absence of white in the tips of the crest 

 feathers, except occasionally on the hinder part of the 

 crest. It inhabits India and Ceylon, where it is tolei- 



