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508 The Roller-like Birds 



love charms. Little or nothing is known of its habits of nidification or the uses 

 to which it puts its heavy casque, though according to Dr. Abbott it may be that 

 the latter is for the purpose of giving force to its bill in breaking nuts or some- 

 thing of the kind. 



THE HOOPOES 



(Family Upupidce) 



As pointed out in the introductory remarks under the last family, these in- 

 teresting little birds appear to find their closest relatives among the curious Horn- 

 bills, much as they at first sight seem to differ from them. They are divided 

 into two subfamilies, the true Hoopoes ( Upupina) and the so-called Wood 

 Hoopoes (IrrisorincB) together constituting a very well marked group. 



The True Hoopoes (Subfamily Upupimz). These pretty and graceful little 

 birds, which take their common name from their peculiar call, are all com- 

 prised in a single genus ( Upupa) and seven species, and are entirely of Old 

 World distribution, ranging over the more open portions of much of the 

 temperate and tropical parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are between 

 ten and a half and twelve inches in length, and have a long, slender bill 

 which is curved downward from the base; the tongue, however, is very short. 

 The most marked external feature is a splendid erectile crest, of which the 

 hinder feathers are the longer, which occupies the median line of the crown from 

 the very base of the bill backward. Of other features it may be mentioned that 

 they possess a short, Lark-like tarsus, short, rounded wings with ten primaries, and 

 a moderately long, square tail of ten feathers. 



The typical and best-known species the Hoopoe par excellence ( U. epops] 

 is found in summer in Europe and northern and central Asia, whence it ranges 

 in winter into northern Africa and northwestern India. The following rather 

 full description is mostly from Blanford: Crest rufous-fawn, all the feathers 

 with black tips, and on the longest feathers the rufous passes into pure white 

 before the black end is reached; sides of head, chin, neck all round, and breast 

 varying from sandy to pale rufous with a vinous tinge; upper back and wings 

 along forearm light brown, then a black band, followed by a buffy white one, 

 crosses the wings and back, with a second black and a second white band on 

 the wings, but the lower back is black or brown; the rump white; upper tail- 

 coverts black, and the tail black with a white bar across it halfway down; quills 

 black, the first primary usually with a white spot on the inner web, the other 

 primaries with a white band across them, while the secondaries have white bases 

 and four white bands, and the abdomen is white with dark brown streaks in 

 front; the bill is dark brown, pinkish at base, and the feet and legs plumbeous. 



When not molested the Hoopoes are very tame, familiar birds, frequenting 

 chiefly the open country in either cultivated or waste places, and keeping mostly 

 on the ground, although they can and occasionally do perch. They feed on 

 grubs and insects, which they largely secure by probing in the ground with their 

 long, slender bills. Although such beautiful birds, their nesting habits are such 



