HOOPOE MIGRATING BIRDS. 109 



hoopoes, oro pendolos, * or golden thrushes, f &c. and also of 

 many of our soft-billed summer birds of passage, and moreover, 

 of birds which never leave us, such as all the various sorts of 

 hawks and kites. Old Belon, two hundred years ago, gives 

 a curious account of the incredible armies of hawks and kites 

 which he saw in the spring time traversing the Thracian 

 Bosphorus, from Asia to Europe. Besides the above mentioned, 

 he remarks that the procession is swelled by whole troops of 

 eagles and vultures. J 



must have been formed from a few solitary instances, as we firmly believe 

 that all the species of swifts and swallows are strictly migratory over the 

 whole globe. It has been observed, that these birds migrate under even 

 Afric's burning sun, the equinoctial regions of America, and the more 

 uniform temperature of all intertropical climates. It would certainly be 

 a remarkable deviation, were the common swift of Madeira to differ from 

 its species, which are guided by one similar law in all other parts of the 

 world. 



* We have noticed the occasional appearance of the hoopoe in Britain, 

 at page 25. This beautiful bird is twelve inches in length, and nineteen 

 in breadth. The bill is about two inches long, black, slender, and 

 somewhat curved ; the eyes hazel ; the tongue very short and triangular ; 

 the head is surmounted by a crest, consisting of a double row of feathers 

 of a pale orange colour, tipped with black, the largest being about two 

 inches in length ; the neck is of a faint reddish brown ; the breast and 

 belly, white ; the back, scapulars, and wings, are crossed with broad bars 

 of black and white ; the lesser coverts of the wings are light brown ; the 

 rump is white, and the tail consists of ten feathers, each marked with 

 white, and, when closed, assumes the form of a crescent, with the horns 

 pointing downwards ; the legs are short and black. Except when 

 under some excitement, the crest usually falls behind on its neck. 



Bechstein informs us, that, in Germany, hoopoes frequent the meadows 

 all the summer. In the month of August, they form themselves into 

 families in the plains ; and, early in September, leave that country, 

 returning again in the month of April ED. 



f The golden thrush of our author is the golden oriole, oriolus galbula 

 of Linnaeus. It is an occasional visitant. This very elegant species is 

 about the size of a blackbird ; the male being of a bright golden yellow, 

 with black wings, marked here and there with yellow ; the two middle 

 tail feathers are also black, the rest yellow. The female is of a dull 

 greenish brown in those parts where the male is black ; the breast is 

 spotted with black. A male and female were shot in the neighbourhood 

 of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, and are now in the College 

 Museum. These birds are plentiful in France and Germany : they congre- 

 gate in August, and migrate to the warmer regions of Asia, and return 

 again in May. ED. 



\ The geographical range of the vultures and eagles is much extended 

 in various species; for example, the golden eagle has been found to 

 breed in Britain, the continent of Europe, and also in America. That 

 some of them have roving habits, extending their predatory excursions 

 frequently to a great distance, is quite true ; but we cannot admit the 



