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met with it in the neighbourhood of Palermo in November. Captain Sperling observes : — " This 

 is a common bird all round the shores of the Mediterranean. They migrate to Africa in the winter, 

 leaving Europe about the middle of September and returning early in April. I have repeatedly 

 met them at sea during their migrations ; besides which I have remarked them as being very 

 common in Syria, Malta, and Rhodes ; in the latter place they were hawking for flies in the air." 

 It is, writes Lord Lilford to us, " very common in Epirus and Corfu, arriving in March and disap- 

 pearing in September. I never found a nest of this species in the island of Corfu ; but it breeds 

 commonly on the mainland opposite." According to Von der Mvihle it is found in very large 

 numbers in Greece during the autumn migration in the month of September, rarer in spring, 

 when it occurs in March. A few breed in Greece. Lindermayer believes that it breeds in the 

 north of Greece, but cannot bring forward any proof of such being the case. Dr. Kriiper sends 

 us a note as follows : — " The migration begins in Greece and Asia Minor early in April, the first 

 appearing about the 24th of March along with Curruca fiijopeUi in Greece ; does not breed in 

 Asia Minor, perhaps in Macedonia." Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, in their paper on the birds of 

 Turkey, state that they found it " very common in Bulgaria, where it arrived the first week in 

 April, and frequented the stony hillsides and bare plains of the Dobrudscha, as well as the 

 orchards and vineyards. A Hoopoe pie is said to be a common dish in summer at Kustendji, 

 where it is known by the name of ' Poopoo.' " Mr. Robson writes : — " This species is abundant, 

 and breeds in European and Asiatic Turkey ; great quantities of them are shot in the autumn 

 migration by sportsmen, as at this season they are very fat and much esteemed for the table." 

 Mr. Elwes also sends us a note: — "What we know of the habits of the Hoopoe in England 

 would lead us to suppose that it was a delicate bird, unable to stand much cold, and fond of rich 

 and cultivated countries. Its haunts in the East, however, are very varied. I have seen the 

 Hoopoe common in some of the wildest and most desolate valleys of the Himalaya, at an elevation 

 of from 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea, though it migrates to the plains during the cold 

 weather. In the south of Russia it is one of the first summer migrants to arrive ; for I have seen 

 it near Odessa in the third week in March, though the weather was very cold." According to 

 Professor von Nordmann, it is one of the commonest birds in Southern Russia, is found both in 

 the gardens and on the steppes, and breeds there : it arrives early in April. Dr. E. Eversmann 

 says that it " has about the same range as the Roller, but occurs rarely as far as Kazan. On the 

 shores of the Lower Ural and Volga rivers it is very common, and frequents the neighbourhood 

 of the villages, seeking its food on the refuse-heaps, which are overgrown with wormwood and 

 other plants. Near Orenburg it is common." The Hoopoe, Menetries observes, is " very 

 common in the steppes from the Don to the baths of the Caucasus, never wandering far from 

 habitations." 



Turning southward again, we learn that De Filippi found it spread over Persia, particularly 

 in Armenia; and Messrs. Dickson and Ross noticed the Hoopoe at Erzeroom from April 12th to 

 September 17th, most common during summer. The late Mr. Strickland, during his residence 

 at Smyrna, says it was seen at Hushan in April. Canon Tristram states that it is " abundant in 

 Palestine, in the wooded districts, returning about the end of March." Mr. E. Cavendish 

 Taylor found it very common in Egypt throughout the winter, and he procured both eggs and 

 young birds in Upper Egypt in March. Captain Shelley observes : — " This bird is extremely 



