THE SEARCHERS. 1 5 



ground are indiscriminately employed; and Pallas mentions having found a nest containing seven 

 young in the thorax of a human skeleton. Dry grass, roots, and cow-dung are the materials employed 

 in the construction of the nest. The brood consists of from four to seven small elongate eggs, with a 

 dirty greenish white or yellowish grey shell, occasionally finely spotted with white. The female alone 

 broods, and the young are hatched in a fortnight. Both parents assist in the task of feeding their 

 charge, and tend them with much affection ; this care, however, does not extend to clearing away 

 such daily accumulations as are usually removed, and the consequence is that before the family are 

 fully fledged the nest has become a mere mass of seething flies and maggots, giving forth a stench 

 from which the birds themselves are only freed after having been exposed for many successive days to 

 the pure winds of heaven. 



The TREE HOOPOES {Irrisor) inhabit the forests of Africa, and are recognisable by their 

 slender body, long beak, short foot and wing, and long tail. The shghdy-cun'ed beak has a ridge at 

 its margin, and is compressed at its sides. The powerful tarsus is much shorter than the centre toe, 

 which, like the rest, is armed with a strong hooked claw. The fourth and fifth quills of the rounded 

 wing exceed the rest in length ; and the broad tail is much graduated. Those species with which 

 we are familiar inhabit the forests of Central and Southern Africa, and pass their lives exclusively 

 upon trees. 



THE RED-BEAKED TREE HOOPOE. 



The Red-eeaked Tree Hoopoe (Irrisor erythrorhyncus). The prevailing colour of this species 

 is a beautiful metallic blue, shimmering with dark green and purple. The inner web of the first three 

 quills is decorated by a single white spot, whilst the six next in order have two white spots. The 

 three first tail-feathers are similarly adorned, and are also marked with white near the tip. The eye is 

 brown, and the beak and foot bright red. The female is smaller, and her plumage less glossy. The 

 young are deep green, nearly black, and almost lustreless. This species is from seventeen to eighteen 

 inches long, and eighteen inches and a half broad. The wing measures six, and the tail nine inches. 



According to our own observations these beautiful birds principally inhabit the forests of North- 

 eastern Africa, and are usually met with hopping or climbing incessantly from tree to tree, or bough 

 to bough, in parties of from four to ten. These parties exliibit extraordinary unanimity in their 

 manner of proceeding, and in all their movements seem to be playing an active game of follow-my- 

 leader. Should one member of the little society suspend itself fram a branch, all the rest immediately 

 do the same ; and even when uttering their cry as they rise into the air, the sounds are often so 

 simultaneous that it is almost impossible to distinguish the individual voices. Ants and, according to 

 some authorities, various kinds of insects, constitute their principal food. Few birds exhibit such 

 strong attachment to their companions as we have frequently observed amongst groups of Tree 

 Hoopoes ; it is not uncommon for them to remain close together as though for mutual defence until 

 repeated shots from the hunter's gun have brought one of the party to the ground, when the rest come 

 rushing down, flapping their wings and uttering loud cries as they settle on the branches depending 

 over the spot on which tlie victim lies. Despite the shortness of their legs, they run over the ground 

 with tolerable ease. Their flight alternates between a gentle gliding motion and a series of rapid 

 strokes with the pinions. Le Vaillant tells us that the female deposits her bluish : green eggs, from 

 four to six in number, at the bottom of a hole in a tree, and is assisted in the labour of incubation by 

 her mate. 



The TREE-CLIMBERS {Anabatd) constitute a family of South American birds, with slender 

 bodies, short wings, and long tails. Their straight or but slightly curved beak is strong, and of the 



