43



After I had managed to pick rip a smattering of Arabic, I

used to endeavour to make known to various Egyptian boys the

fact that I was very anxious to obtain a brood of young Hoopoes,

having been able to utter, with what I thought extreme glibeuess,

the words “ Katakit hidadid,” which, being interpreted, means a

brood of Hoopoes ; but whether these youths mistook my mean¬

ing, or else considered that a brood of any birds would suit me

equally well, I know not. At any rate, for a week, I was brought

nothing but j^ouug Sparrows, varying in age from three days to

ten. It was not in vain, however, that I used to shake my head

and say, “ La ! la ! Hidhid, mafish baksheesh,” by which I meant

“No, no, not that, but Hoopoes, you shall have no present.”

Consequently, the very next morning (it was early in March) as I

was sitting on the upper deck of the dahabeah under the awning,

there came to my ears the sound of much splashing and yelling.

From the neighbouring island, through the shallow water that

divided it from our sand bank, three of my copper-skinned Arab

boys were racing, one of them holding his white robe above his

knees out of the water’s reach in one hand, whilst in the other

were three struggling ungainly-looking bird forms, which, even

at some little distance, I saw were at any rate not Sparrows.


“ Shoof, shoof, Hidadid ”—“ Look ! look ! Hoopoes,”—

cried all the boys simultaneously, and I thought the poor little

birds would have been then and there torn to pieces, for each

boy tried his best to be the one to hand them over to me, with

the usual Arab-like clamour, impetuosity and excitement.

Yes, sure enough, they w ? ere unmistakeably Hoopoes, easily

recognizable even at perhaps a week old. Their crests were

already well developed, and the quills that covered their

odoriferous bodies showed the black and white bars of the wings

and the russet brown of the general plumage.


After having duly rewarded the young Arabs, I placed my

Hoopoes in a covered basket lined with hay, where at first they

huddled into the farthest corner, nearly turning head over heels

in their endeavours to escape from my sight, their hind quarters

up in the air, and their heads, with the double row of crest-quills

widely separated, nearty doubled beneaih them.


And their smell ! well, smell isn’t the word ! At that age

Hoopoes’ bills are of course not nearly so long as in the adult

bird, and the gape of mouth, with the large yellow edging is

enormous. The only sound at first emitted was a frightened hiss,

but after a few hours, first one and then another began to feed,

when the}'- uttered a jarring note, which lasted as long as they



