THE HOOPOE. 



143 



^§k. 



and in quest of these not unfrequently resorts to the towns 

 and villages of Palestine and Syria, and even builds his 

 tiny homestead in the 

 immediate vicinity of 

 human habitations. 

 His flight is slow and 

 undulatory, and per- 

 formed in a series of 

 jerks. It is sustaine(! 

 by quick, smart strokes 

 of the wing. 



Round about Lake 

 Tiberias, and in the 

 marshes above El- 

 Huleh, kingfishers are hoopoe. 



numerous. The jay of Palestine occurs in some of the 

 wooded districts ; nor are specimens wanting of the raven 

 and the carrion crow. As Nature seldom supplies the 

 bane without providing the antidote, she has created the 

 locust-bird, or rose-coloured pastor, to keep down the in- 

 crease of one of the most destructive of the insect tribe. 

 This useful bird is of the same size as the starling, or about 

 eight to nine inches in length. Its plumage is of a deli- 

 cate rosy hue about the body, while the head, neck, w^ngs, 

 tail, and limbs are of a bluish black. It feeds upon worms, 

 insects, and grain ; and in some places, owing to the great 

 quantity of locusts it destroys, is regarded almost as a 

 sacred bird. 



