HOOPOE, 093 



fore part of the neck and breaft incline to rufous : the belly 

 white : thighs brown : the feathers on the fides the fame, but 

 edged with white : quills brown : the tail is compofed of twelve 

 feathers of the fame colour ; the fix middle ones are twelve 

 inches and a quarter in length, the others much fhorter j the 

 outer one being two, the next three, and the third four inches 

 only in length : the legs and claws are black. 



This is the defcription of Brijfon ; but appears to be the female, 

 or a young bird, fince the under parts are very fparingly fpotted, 

 and that only on the fides ; whereas, in many fpecimens, they are 

 manifeft, both on the breaft and belly, which Buffon thinks to be 

 the male ; the tail feathers of which, he fays, are one inch longer 

 than the female, and has a narrow ftripe of grey acrofs the wings. I 

 think it not amifs to add, that the feathers on the forehead and 

 crown are narrow, pointed, and mixed with greyifh; and the 

 tongue reaches quite to the end of the bill. 



Thefe birds are very common at the Cape of Good Hope, from Place. 



which they are frequently brought, and may be found in many 

 collections. 



With the above I have ventured to place the Merops cafer of 

 Linnaus, as fynonymous. This laft he has given a very imperfect 

 defcription of, and that merely from a drawing : the whole which 

 he fays of it is, that it is of a grey colour, has a yellow vent, and a 

 very long tail, and inhabits ^Ethiopia. 



That likewife mentioned by M. Koelreuter, in the Peterjburgh 

 TranfaSfums, I am not quite clear in : he calls it Merops cafir, 

 the one above alluded to ; but his defcription leads one to 

 think it the Promerops above defcribed. 



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