AVES—HOOPOE. 563 
THE HOOPOE.! 

Of this bird there are only two species known to Europeans, one of which 
is, however, diffused over the whole of the Old Continent. It weighs about 
twelve ounces, and is twelve inches in length, the extent of its wings being 
nineteen inches across. The bill is long, black, and somewhat curved. 
The neck is pale reddish brown; the breast and belly white; the lesser 
coverts of the wing light brown; the back, scapulars, and wings crossed 
with black and white, the rump white, and the tail white, marked with 
black in the form of a crescent. But the distinguishing character is a beau- 
tiful crest of about two inches high, which is ofa pale orange tipped with 
black, and which the bird can erect at pleasure. The food of this bird is 
insects. It is a solitary bird, two of them being seldom found together. In 
some places it is accounted good eating. 
ORDER VII.—ALCYONES. 
Birps of this order have the bill middle sized or long, pointed, almost 
quadrangular, and either slightly arched or straight; tarsus very short 
three toes before, united, and one behind. These birds fly with great celerity. 
Their movements are quick and abrupt, and they neither walk nor climb. 
They seize their food on the wing, and often from the surface of the water, 
and nestle in holes on the banks of rivers. They moult only once a year; 
and the females and young are not very dissimilar from the males and 
mature birds. 

1 Upupa epops, Lin. The genus Upupa has the bill very long, slightly arched, slender, 
wiangular, compressed ; nostrils basal, lateral, ovoid, open, and surmounted with feathers 
‘n front ; taree toes before, the exterior united to the middle one to the first joint; one be- 
rind ; tail square, of ten feathers. ; 
