180 



white ; upper tail-coverts black, with more or less broad cream-coloured edgings ; least wing-coverts 

 dull tawny ; rest of the wing-coverts black, tipped with creamy white, the median coverts also barred 

 with this colour at the base, so that the bands across this part of the wing are very broad and distinct ; 

 quills black, the first primary very short, and having one small spot of white on the inner web, the next 

 six primaries barred across with white on both webs, the next three feathers spotted with white about a 

 quarter of an inch from the tip of the quill, the rest of the secondaries irregularly barred with white, 

 sometimes on both webs, sometimes on only one, so that more or less broad alar bars are thus formed ; 

 the four innermost secondaries tinged with buff and broadly barred across with black and white, the 

 two dorsal secondaries longitudinally varied with brown and buff, the latter colour forming a broad 

 edging to the outside of the plume, next to which is a broad line of black which reaches to the shaft ; 

 and beyond it, near the base, on the other side of the shaft is another line of buff spreading out obliquely 

 towards the base of the feather, while the inner margin is brown; tail black, with the faintest indication 

 of a white tip to some of the feathers, traversed across the middle by a broad white band, which reaches 

 a little further up towards the tip of the outermost feather, this being also margined with white at the 

 base ; belly and abdomen whitish, the flanks striped with brown ; under wing-coverts tawny, the little 

 plumes along the edge of the wing whitish varied with black ; bill black, flesh-coloured at the base of 

 the lower mandible : legs dusky brown ; iris pale brown. Total length 12 inches, culmen 2"3, wing 5*5, 

 tail 3'8, tarsus - 85. 



Adult Female. Exactly similar to the male, but the black not so pronounced and rather more brownish, so 

 that the contrast between the two colours of black and tawny is not so distinctly seen as in the male. 



Nestling. Covered with little blue quills, from the points of which the feathers are protruding; a little 

 down on the back of the crown, scapulars, and most on each side of the vent and rump ; even at this 

 early age the head is conspicuously crested, but there is no trace of the white bar before the black tip 

 of the crest-feathers ; the shaft-stripes, however, can be already distinguished along the flank-feathers. 

 A bird in Mr. A. Basil Brooke's collection, which is a little older, has the plumage developed so as to 

 cover the body, but has still a great many pen-feathers. The white mark before the black tip of the 

 crest is very plainly seen, and extends down the feather a good way; the outer tail-feather is also 

 edged with white on the side and round the tip of the feather, while on some of the other feathers a 

 slight edging of white is apparent. 



Obs. The above descriptions are taken from European specimens ; and as we have now before us an excellent 

 series of Hoopoes, it may be of interest to consider these the typical specimens, and to examine analy- 

 tically the various species which are distributed over the Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian Regions. 

 Mr. G. R. Gray, in his ' Hand-list of Birds,' recognizes nine species as belonging to the genus Upupa ; 

 but we may at once put aside, as spurious or unrecognizable, U. monolophos of Wagler, founded on the 

 ninth plate of Levaillant's ' Promerops.' Thus eight birds remain to be characterized, viz. : — U. epops, 

 U. senegalensis, U. minor, U. nigripennis, U. major, U. decorata, U. marginata, and U. longirostris. 

 Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, in their grand work on the Birds of Eastern Africa, have given a very 

 complete review of the Hoopoes ; so that it would be an easy matter to write a conspectus of the genus 

 Upupa, were it not that the distinctions between the different species are in some cases so trivial that it 

 requires no slight study before one can arrive at satisfactory conclusions ; and we have therefore care- 

 fully worked out the material now before us according to the localities whence the birds come. 



Europe. 



Switzerland. A specimen in our own collection agrees very well with the Spanish birds described above, 

 but has rather a finer crest, and we notice the appearance of a second and less plainly marked black bar before 



