MEROPS. UPUPA. 125 



the Sahara, Asia Minor, Palestine, nnd Persia.' Occasionally 

 it is found breeding to the north of its range as far "as Silesia, 

 and has wandered to almost every part of Europe, even to 

 Muonioniska in Lapland and the A/ores. It winters in 

 tropical and southern Africa and north-west India. 



Suborder 

 Family UPUPID^E. 

 Genus UPUPA Linrueus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 117. 



Type : U. epops Linn. 



Upupa=& Hoopoe, in classical Latin ; the Greek tTrotf/. 



TJpupa epops. HOOPOE. 



Upupa epops Linncms, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 117 : Sweden. 



Upupa epops Linn. ; B. O. II. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 83 ; Salvin, 

 Cat. Birds B.M.Jivll892, p. 4; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 

 1899, p. 285. 



Epops=tiTro\l/, the Hoopoe, in classical Greek. 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Regular Visitor 

 in March, April, and May, but less frequent in autumn, 

 to the southern counties of England, where it occasionally 

 breeds, especially in Hampshire ; it also frequently occurs 

 on the east coasr, but is elsewhere uncommon. It is an 

 irregular visitor to Scotland to the extreme north, and has 

 occurred in the Outer Hebrides and in the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands. Individuals sometimes remain throughout 

 the winter even in the north of England (Yorkshire, Jan. 

 1896 and 1898). To Ireland it is a spring and autumn 

 visitor and occurs almost annually, most frequently in March 

 in the southern counties, but is not known to nest there. 



General Distribution. The Hoopoe breeds throughout the 

 greater part of Europe, as far north as south Sweden, but 

 iuost abundantly towards the south ; also in western Siberia, 

 western Turkestan, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and 

 north-west India. It also occurs in north-west Africa from 



