Hoopoe. 265 



those countries of Hdr-vogel, or 'Army-bird.' In Italy it is 

 Upupa rubbola ; in Portugal, Poupa ; in Spain, Put-put ; but 

 in Moorish or Arabic, Abubilla, 'Father of Beaks/ which is highly 

 descriptive. I should add that as Upupa is a 'Hoopoe' in 

 classical Latin, so evo^ is ' a Hoopoe ' in classical Greek. 



It is not so rare in England as some imagine, for though never 

 permanently resident here, scarcely a year passes when some 

 do not make their appearance. I have many records of its 

 occurrence in Wiltshire ; Bishop Stanley recounts how one was 

 caught on Salisbury Plain in a weak and exhausted state, which 

 must evidently have come from a distance, for its beak was filled 

 with red clay of a quality not found in that neighbourhood. 

 Yarrell says it has been obtained in Wiltshire. Mr. Withers 

 informed me that it was killed by Mr. Warriner's keeper many 

 years since near Kedholn turnpike gate. The Rev. G. Marsh 

 recorded its capture at Winterslow in 1829 ; and more recently 

 the Rev. George Powell (with the ready kindness with which he 

 continually gratifies my ornithological taste) communicated to 

 me the capture, on September 3, 1862, of a very fine male 

 specimen, by some labourers in the farm-yard of Mr. Marsh of 

 Heytesbury. The bird was weather-beaten and exhausted, and 

 appeared to have come in for its share of a great storm which 

 on the day preceding its capture had devastated the fields at 

 Lavington. When secured, it was carefully placed in a large 

 cage, and though at first very shy, it gradually became more 

 reconciled to confinement ; but at the end of seven days, without 

 any ostensible reason, it died suddenly. These are undoubtedly 

 authentic instances of the occurrence of the Hoopoe in our 

 county, but in 1851 the Rev. F. Goddard, Vicar of Hilmarton, who 

 has often seen this bird in Egypt, and is well acquainted with 

 its habits, was so fortunate as to meet with it alive in Wiltshire 

 on several distinct occasions. His description is so graphic and 

 interesting from the rare occurrence of the bird, that I take leave 

 to insert it in his own words : ' Some time in the summer, I 

 believe in the month of August, riding from Alderton to Norton 

 near Malmesbury, to do duty on a Sunday, about one mile and 



