HOOPOES. 



411 



hoopoes proper have a peculiar erectile crest on the head, a square short tail ; that 

 they possess no metallic colors, and that the sternal notches are open ; their habits are 

 terrestrial. The wood-hoopoes, as the name indicates, are arboreal, have no crest, a 

 blackish glossy plumage of metallic reflections, and a very long graduated tail; the 

 notches of the breastbone are closed behind so as to form foramina. 



The former of these sub-divisions, the UPUPID^E, is composed of about six species 

 belonging to the genus Upupa, the typical species of which is figured in the accompa- 

 nying wood-cut, which gives a good idea of this striking looking bird ; and we have 

 only to imagine the highly-shaded portions of the upper half of the bird, including the 



FIG. 203. Irrisor erythrorhynclios, wood-hoopoe. 



crest, colored with a rusty buff color, which is paler and somewhat pinkish on the 

 breast, in order to have a picture which will prevent us from ever mistaking a hoopoe, 

 whether met with in nature or in the museum. The hoopoes are confined to the 

 warmer portions of the Old World : but the species figured, If. epops, is also found 

 in the southern parts of the Palaearctic region, including Europe. It is a bird of ter- 

 restrial habits, feeding on worms and insects, which it extracts from their holes in the 

 earth by means of its long pliable, somewhat snipe-like bill. That such a striking bird 

 has not escaped the fate of playing a great role in all sorts of superstition is quite 

 natural, the more so since its voice, from which are derived its different names, is 



