112 THE COMMON HOOPOE. 



fond of basking in the sun. "When content, they utter a qui- 

 vering cry of Wek ! Wek ! When angry, the note is harsher, 

 and the male sometimes cries Hup ! Hap ! The female had a 

 habit of dragging her food about the room, till it became en- 

 crusted with feathers and dirt ; this accumulated in the stomach 

 to a ball as large as a hazel-nut, of which she died. The male 

 survived the winter ; but from sitting so near the stove, his 

 beak dried up, so that he could not shut it within an inch, of 

 which he died miserably." 



ADDITIONAL. -" This bird," says MACGILLIVRAY, "has been 

 named Hoopoe, from the crest or tuft, huppe, in French, with 

 which its head is adorned. Some, however, derive its name from 

 its ordinary cry, which is said to resemble up-up, or pu-pu" 



M. NECKER, in his Memoir of the Birds of Geneva, states, 

 that the Hoopoes fight desperately, and leave the ground 

 covered with feathers ; and a correspondent of the Magazine of 

 Natural History thus describes a favourite locality for these 

 birds on the Continent : " On the Bordeaux side of the Garonne, 

 and near the city, are large spaces of marshy ground, intersected 

 by broad ditches and creeks terminating in the river, where, from 

 the advantage derived from the water, many poplars and willows 

 are planted for the sake of the twigs, which are much used for 

 tying vines. These trees being topped at about ten or twelve 

 feet from the ground, so as to induce them to sprout much, be- 

 come very thick, and in the course of a few years, gradually de- 

 caying at the centre, are attacked by numerous insects, particu- 

 larly the jet-ant, Formica fuliginosa. In these retired places, 

 which are frequented only by a few cowherds and country people, 

 the Hoopoe, which is a very shy bird, may be frequently ob- 

 served examining the rotten wood, and feeding on the insects 

 with which it abounds. The Hoopoe flies low and seldom, unless 

 when disturbed, its food being so abundant as to require little 

 search. It breeds in a hollow willow about the end of May. 

 The young come out in June ; but I could not ascertain the exact 

 time required for hatching." 



Instances of the bird's breeding in this country are on record ; 

 JESSE, in his Gleanings, mentions a pair which built their nest 

 and hatched their young in a tree close to the house at Park End, 

 near Chichester ; DR. LATHAM had a young bird sent him on the 

 10th of May ; and MONTAGUE speaks of a pair in Hampshire 

 which begun a nest, but left it unfinished. 



At tunes this bird breathes out a peculiarly low plaintive 

 sound, resembling the note of the dove, of which we are reminded 

 by these lines in MITCHELL'S Ruins of many Lands' 



