396 



CORACIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



smartly rapped on some hard surface, and most are tossed into 

 the air. The flight is strong, undulating, and seldom protracted, 

 though Hoopoes often escape from Ha.wks; they can also run 

 rapidly. The nest, placed in holes in trees, walls, or rocks, con- 

 sists of a little straw or a few twigs, with some feathers or hair ; 

 it is always, however, marked by the addition of ordure to the 

 lining, and sites are on record in coffins or decaying bodies. 1 

 During incubation the cock feeds the hen, who hardly stirs from 

 her post; the eggs number from four to seven, and are pale 



FIG. 84- Hoopoe. Upupa epops. xf. (From Natural History of Selborne.) 



greenish-blue with distinct pores. These birds are fond of dust- 

 ing themselves in loose soil ; the male is decidedly pugnacious, 

 except in captivity ; and the flesh is considered a delicacy in 

 Southern Europe. Arabs venerate them and ascribe to them 

 medicinal properties. Most persons are familiar with the story 

 of Allah granting to Epops a golden crest, exchanged afterwards 

 at the bird's request for one of feathers. 



Upupa epops not unfrequently visits Britain, where it has 

 nested on several occasions ; it breeds from Southern Scandinavia 

 to Northern Africa and the Atlantic Islands, migrating a little 



1 In the Upupinae and Irrisorinae the oil-gland of the incubating female, and 

 also of the young, produces a stinking secretion. 



