124 



HOOPOE. 



RED-BILLED 

 PROMEROPS. 



Pi., ex. 



Description. 



lo. 



BLUE PR. 



DlSCRIPTION. 



CIZE of the Hoopoe ; length fifteen inches. Bill two inches and 

 a half long, curved, as in that bir<^, but ftouter j colour red; 

 noftrils oval, placed near the bafe. The head is pretty full of fea- 

 thers, which do not lay fmooth, being fomewhat di(hevelled, as in 

 fome of the Paradife Birds : the colour of the head, neck, breafl:, 

 and back, black, with a glofs, in fome lights of red, and in others 

 of green : the belly velvet black : wing coverts black, glofled with 

 green : quills and tail glofly blue black : on the inner webs of the 

 firfl: fix prime quills is an oval fpot of white, almofl: an inch and a 

 half from the tip : the tail is cuneiform ; the longeft feathers 

 eight inches, the fhortefl; or outer ones only three inches, in 

 k.ngth ; the two middle ones are plain black throughout, the 

 others marked with a fpot of white on each fide of the web, about 

 an inch from the end"; thefe fpots are nearly oval in fliape, and 

 placed obliquely, but not quite oppofite to each other : the legs 

 are an inch long, and flouCj as are the toes, the outer one united 

 to the middle pretty deeply ; the colour of the legs, and toes red j 

 the legs feathered half way down ; claws hooked, and black. 



This curious fpccies I firft faw in the colledion of the late 

 Dutchefs Dowager of PorZ/rt;?^, who informed me, that the per- 

 fon fhe had it from reported it to have come from Africa. It is 

 now in the poflTeflion of Colonel Davies. Among the drawings of 

 Captain Pater/on I likewife obferve a figure of this bird, differing, 

 only in having the bill dufky inftead of red. The drawing was. 

 made from a fpecimen met with lalndia^ 



QiZE of the lafl: : length twelve inches. Bill two inches long^ 

 '^ ftouter than in the Hoopoe, and more curved, the colour black : 



t general 



