UPUPA NIGRIPENNIS. 279 



As to the Ceylonese bird, it is identical, in all respects, with specimens I have examined from Mysore, which represent 

 the true nigripennis of Gould. 



The Burmese form (U. longirostris, Jerdon) has not got a longer bill than Ceylonese specimens often have ; it has the 

 white spot on the quill which I have shown to exist in the latter, although this is a worthless character in the 

 present species, its absence in specimens which Jerdon handled probably causing him to err in saying that the 

 species wanted it ; this, however, was afterwards corrected by him in the ' Ibis,' 1872, p. 22. Both species want 

 the white on the hinder crest-feathers ; and examples of each may, I think, be found equally dark as to their 

 rufous coloration ; I therefore imagine that the two races are scarcely separable. 



Distribution. — The Indian Hoopoe is an inhabitant of many of the dry districts in Ceylon. It is very 

 common both in the north and south-east of the island. In the former district it spreads from the Jaffna 

 peninsula down the west coast as far as the neighbourhood of Puttalam. I have seen it in the island of 

 Manaar ; and Mr. Holdsworth says that it is very abundant at Aripu during the winter months, its numbers 

 being largely increased about October. In the south-east it is common throughout the year between 

 Hambantota and Yala, and likewise in portions of the Park country and the Eastern Province. I found it 

 in August on the patnas near Bibile, at the foot of the Madulsima range. It is not unfrequent in Uva, and 

 occurs occasionally on the Elephant and Kandapolla plains and at high elevations in Maturata. I am 

 indebted to Col. Watson for the possession of an example which he shot at Kandapolla in May at an eleva- 

 tion of 6300 feet ; and he informs me that he has often seen it in that locality. It is sometimes found in 

 Dumbara, straying thither, in all probability, up the valley of the Mahawelliganga from the low country of 

 Bintenne. Near this locality I have met with it at Minery Lake ; but I never saw it nearer Trincomalie than 

 this, although it may possibly visit the plains in the delta of the Mahawelliganga. 



Layard writes that he procured a solitary specimen at Colombo ; but any occurrence of it in that 

 neighbourhood, or anywhere south of Chilaw, must be looked upon as that of a straggler down the west coast. 

 It has never been found in the south-west. 



Jerdon writes of this srjecies that it " is found throughout Southern India, exteudiug through part of 

 Central India to the North-west Provinces and the Dehra Doon/' Whether the examples from the latter 

 locality really belong to this species or to the race U. indica, I am unable to say. In the Khandala district 

 Mr. Fairbank says it is common, and Burgess writes of it as the same in the upper portion of the Deccan. 

 Mr. Adam speaks of it as " not common " in the Sambhur-Lake district, and Captain Butler writes the same 

 of it in the Guzerat region ; but these birds, I imagine, probably pertain to the intermediate form. From 

 Sindh, Mr. Hume remarks that he has never seen it. In the extreme south of India it appears to be chiefly 

 restricted to the east coast ; for it is found in the island of Ramisserum, and Mr. Fairbank observed it in the 

 lower Palauis, whereas I find no record of it in Mr. Bourdillon's list of the birds of Travancore. 



The Burmese race, U. longirostris, is common in the plains of Pegu throughout the year, but is, according 

 to Mr. Hume, most numerous in February and March. In the Irrawaddy delta, Dr. Armstrong found it 

 very abundant in open country. Swinhoe found it at Hainan, in China, and records it from Siam. 



Habits. — This charming bird frequents, in the island of Ceylon, open sparsely-timbered ground, scrub- 

 dotted plains, cultivated fields, dry grazihg-land in the jungles of the interior, and patnas iu the Central 

 Province. In its nature it is a tame bird, and when scratching for insects, with its handsome crest depressed, 

 allows a near approach before taking flight ; when flushed it does not usually fly far, but takes refuge in a 

 neighbouring tree, where it will sit quietly, giving out its soft and melodious call, hoo-poo, hoo-poo, accompanied 

 by a movement of its handsome crest and an oscillation to and fro of its head at each note. In Jaffna it 

 may be seen close to the houses of the English residents, and I have known it breed in the garden of a 

 bungalow within a few yards of the verandah. It feeds entirely on the ground, strutting about with an easy 

 gait, and scratching vigorously for insects in dry soil. It often scrutinizes the odure of cattle, beneath 

 which it finds an abundance of food. 



In India Jerdon remarks that it frequents " old deserted buildings, such as mosques, tombs, and large 

 mud walls •" he found its food to consist of ants, Coleoptera, and small grasshoppers. Burgess says that in 

 the Deccan it affects sandy plots of ground outside the walls of villages, where the ground is perforated with 

 the conical holes of the ant-lion, on the larva; of which it feeds. 



