42



ding with their bills amongst the refuse that lingers lovingly but

unsweetly about the mud hovels of the Arabs. In Egypt there

is an abundance of beetles, which probably make up a consider¬

able portion ot the Hoopoes’ menu, but to judge by the appalling

effluvia that surrounds the nest and young birds, they cannot be

altogether nice feeders. Like some people, their sense of taste

must be either absent or else somewhat depraved. They remind

me in this respect of a luncheon party I was once at. It was

extremely hot summer weather, and in London. There was

dressed crab amongst other delectable dishes ! One lady guest

seemed to be enjoying it so much, that when it came to my turn,

I too helped myself. One mouthful was not only enough, but

too much. I looked round the table ; three other guests appeared

aghast, portions of the crab untouched upon their plates. “ Isn’t

the crab good ? ” said the hostess. As no one else spoke, I

ventured to say, “ Well, I think crabs are very difficult to keep

quite fresh in this kind of weather, and fishmongers are not

always to be depended upon.'’ My hostess at once turned to the

lady whose appreciation of decaying crab had beguiled me into

tasting it, and said, “ Pray don’t eat it.” But she was too late,

for like the Walrus and the Carpenter with the oysters, she’d

■eaten every bit, and (perhaps with due consistence) stuck to it

that her helping was quite good ; yet it was all part of the same

old crab ! As with people, so with birds : there are some who

prefer freshly killed food, there are others who don’t object to its

being decidedly tainted, and Hoopoes are perhaps to be numbered

among the latter.


I hold to this, because when a brood of young Hoopoes

was brought to me by an Arab boy at Assouan, that brood nearly

knocked me backwards. But in three days time, after they had

been fed on clean and fresh food, their disgusting smell had all

but faded away ; and all young Hoopoes that I have ever come

across have equalE affected the olfactory nerves.


When our dahabeah was moored opposite Assouan, below

the first Cataract of the Nile, to a sandbank in close proximity

to the Island of Klephantiua, I had ample opportunity for

observing the Hoopoes. In the early morning, before one was

properly awake, two of these birds used to settle on the dahabeah

just above one’s cabin window, where they would utter continu¬

ally their love song, hoo, hoo, hoo — hoo, hoo, hoo; partly Dove and

partly Cuckoo-like in sound. To see the male birds sparring at

each other is extremely pretty, dancing in the air one over the

other, like two large butterflies.



