280 UPUPA NIGRIPENNIS. 



There is something very striking in the soft tone of this bird's note when heard amidst the chatter and 

 rliirping of the numerous Passerine birds which inhabit the Ceylon coast-jungles. Though perhaps uttei'ed 

 tolerably close to the listener it seems to be wafted on the mild sea-breezes from afar off, and tends to rivet 

 the sportsman's attention as he is returning to his bivouac beneath the already burning rays of an 8 o'clock 

 sun, after a long morning's shooting in the parched-up scrubs of the northern coast. The flight of this 

 Hoopoe is buoyant but undulating, and when pressed it is able to show considerable powers of wing, for in 

 India a trained Hawk is said generally to fail in seizing it. 



Nidification. — The breeding-season in the north of Ceylon lasts from November until April, and possibly 

 a second brood may be reared later on in the year, as Layard mentions the shooting of young birds in August. 

 It breeds in holes of trees, showing, in this respect, as well as in points of anatomy, its affinity to the last 

 family, the Hornbills. It sometimes, however, chooses a hole in a wall, in which I have known it to nest 

 in the garden of an English residence in the Jaffna fort. Burgess writes, with reference to its habit of 

 building in walls in India, " it breeds in the middle of April and May, constructing its nest in holes in the 

 mud walls which surround the towns and villages in the Deccan." The nests are composed of grass, hemp, 

 and feathers. In the same district a nest made of soft pieces of hemp was found in a fort wall. Miss 

 Cockburn, again, tells us that at Kotaghcrry it selects holes in stone walls and in carthcrn banks to build 

 in, making a mere apology for a nest of a few hairs and leaves, which in a short time has a most offensive 

 smell. This, it is asserted, arises from the oily matter secreted by the sebaceous gland on the tail-bone, which 

 in the female at the breeding-time assumes an intolerable stench, whence obtains the idea, according to 

 .Tcrdon, that the bird constructs its nest of cowdung. 



Mr. Holdsworth found one in a hole in a small mustard-tree (Salvadora persica) at Aripu; the young 

 were reposing on the bare wood at the bottom of the cavity. The same fact has been noticed by Indian 

 observers, viz. that when holes in trees are resorted to no nest whatever is constructed. 



The eggs vary from three to seven, five or six being the usual number. Mr. Hume writes that they " are 

 commonly a very lengthened oval, almost always a good deal pointed towards one end, and sometimes 

 showing a tendency to be pointed at the other end too — a most remarkable form of egg, which I cannot recall 

 having observed in any other species .... When quite fresh they are of a pale greyish-blue tint, but many 

 are of a pale olive-brown or dingy olive-green, and every intermediate shade of colour is observable. As a 

 rule they have scarcely any gloss at all, and of course are devoid of markings. In length they vary from 

 ()<) tn ]•()."> inch, and in breadth from 065 to 073 inch." 



Fam. CORACIID^E. 



Rill large, wide at the base, more or less curved and the tip hooked. Legs and toes covered 

 with strong scuta. 



Sternum with two emarginations of variable depth in the posterior margin. 

 Plumage gay, especially on the wing ; feathers of the body with an axillary plume. 



