THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 437 



240. Hoopoe [WIEDEHOPF]. 



UPUPA EPOPS, Linn. 

 Heligolandish : Leapb. Name for Hoopoe. 



Upupa ej)ops. Naumann, v. 437. 



Hoopoe. Dresser, v. 179. 



Hiippe puput. Temminck, Manuel, i. 415, iii. 291. 



' Stjtillig as enn leaph ' (proud as a Hoopoe) is a favourite 

 expression of the Heligolander when he wishes to describe some- 

 thing very smart and gay coloured. This expression has become 

 so proverbial, that no doubt in most cases it is used by persons 

 who have probably never seen the bird; for it belongs to those 

 species which, though of annual occurrence, are yet invariably 

 represented by but very few examples. From the middle of 

 April to the middle of May from six to eight of these birds is the 

 most that is ever seen in fact, as a rule the number is less ; in 

 autumn one or two are at times met with, but several years 

 often pass by without any at all being observed. 



The Hoopoe is distributed as a breeding species from western 

 Europe through the whole of Asia as far as Japan. In the north, 

 southern Sweden would appear to mark the limit of its range ; 

 though, strange to say, an example was killed in Spitzbergen in 

 1868 (Newton : Yarrell's British Birds, ii. 125). 



