UPUPID&. 285 
THE HOOPOE. 
Uputpa ktpors, Linnzus. 
The Hoopoe has been noticed for more than two centuries as a 
visitor to Great Britain, and in spring it arrives so regularly on our 
southern and eastern coasts that, if unmolested, it would soon become 
one of our regular breeding species. The appearance of this tame 
and conspicuous bird is, however, the signal for its persecution unto 
death, and I am afraid to say how many have been slain in certain 
localities in Sussex and Kent where they alight after crossing the 
Channel. In spite of their inhospitable reception a few pairs 
manage to escape, and some have nested from time to time in 
Devon, Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and probably 
other counties. In autumn many individuals are observed in our 
eastern counties, especially on the coast after gales; some even in 
winter: for instance, a bird frequented Scampston in Yorkshire for 
a week in the early part of January 1896; while several were 
noticed in the exceptionally mild January of 1898. In the west of 
England and in South Wales the Hoopoe is not rare, but north- 
ward it is seldom seen; though it has occurred irregularly in Scot- 
land as far as Sutherland and Caithness, as well as in the Orkneys, 
Shetlands, and Outer Hebrides. To Ireland it is an almost annual 
visitor in small numbers, principally to the southern portion. 
Accidentally the Hoopoe has been taken in the Feeroes, Spitsber- 
