177 



Family UPUPID^]. 



Genus UPUPiL 

 TPpv/pa, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 183 (1766). 



The Hoopoes inhabit the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions, one species only being 

 found in the Western Palsearctic Region. 



They are active and sprightly, easily distinguishable by their large crests, but shy and 

 difficult of approach. They frequent groves, gardens, and fields, especially pastures where cattle 

 graze, and where plenty of insects are to be found. They are often seen on the ground, and 

 probe the soft soil in search of their insect food. They fly with a flapping motion, but not 

 heavily, and though not very swiftly, yet they get over the ground at a good pace. Their usual 

 note is a deep, loud hoop, hoop ; but when quarrelsome (for they are very pugnacious) they utter 

 a deep snorting note. They breed in the holes of trees, walls, &c, making no regular nest, but 

 depositing their eggs on the refuse at the bottom of the hole, and they usually allow it to get into 

 a most filthy condition. Their eggs are elongated, dull greenish grey in colour, and marbled 

 with darker grey, frequently also much stained and discoloured by the refuse in the nest. 



TJpupa epops, the type of the genus, has the bill longer than the head, slender, arched, 

 pentagonal at the base, four-sicled towards the tip, tapering to a point ; nostrils oblong, basal ; 

 feathers on the crown elongated, forming a large conspicuous crest ; wings rather long, broad 

 and rounded, the first quill short, the second scarcely longer than the secondaries, the third, 

 fourth, and fifth nearly equal, the fourth longest ; tail rather long, even ; feet rather short ; 

 tarsus stout, roundish, covered in front with seven scutellae, and posteriorly also scutellate ; claws 

 moderate, rather stout, acute, arched, except that on the hind toe, which is nearly straight. 



94 



