HOOPOES. 25 



answer to any of our English hawks ; neither could I find 

 any like it at the curious exhibition of stuffed birds in Spring 

 Gardens. I found it nailed up at the end of a barn, which is 

 the countryman's museum. 



The parish I live in is a very abrupt uneven country, full of 

 hills and woods, and therefore full of birds. 



LETTER XL 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



SELBORNE, September 9, 1767. 



IT will not be without impatience that I shall wait for your 

 thoughts with regard to the falco. As to its weight, breadth, 

 &c. I wish I had set them down at the time ; but, to the 

 best of my remembrance, it weighed two pounds and eight 

 ounces, and measured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. 

 Its cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eyelids a 

 bright yellow. As it had been killed some days, and the eyes 

 were sunk, I could make no good observation on the colour 

 of the pupils and the irides. 



The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were 

 a pair of hoopoes, (upupa^) which came, several years ago, 

 in the summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, 

 which joins to my garden, for some weeks. They used to 

 march about in a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many 

 times in the day, and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; 

 but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, who never let 

 them be at rest.* 



* In Latham's General Synopsis, there is an account of a young hoopoe 

 having been shot in May. These birds have been seen in many parts of 

 Great Britain, from Devonshire to the north of Scotland. Some years ago, 

 one was shot near Banff; and it has been killed in Devonshire and South 

 Wales. Mr Selby says, " the specimen in my possession, and from which 

 the figure in my illustrations is taken, was caught, after some severe 

 weather, and overcome by fatigue, upon the sea coast of Northumberland, 

 near Bamburgh Castle." The Rev. Percival Hunter says, they were 

 frequently seen, during the brumal months, in various parts of Kent, in 

 1829. The upupa eops can only be reckoned an occasional visitant, its 

 chief residence, during the summer months, being the south of Europe, 

 from whence it migrates to Africa. Colonel Williamson, late of the 92d 

 regiment, informed us, that it is to be met with, in vast numbers, near 

 Ceuta, in Africa, opposite to Gibraltar, during the whole year. The nest 

 is formed of bents, and lined with soft materials ; it is built in the hollow 

 of a tree, and is said to be extremely fetid. The eggs are four in number, 

 bluish white, spotted with pale brown. ED. 



