332 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family UPUPID.E, or HOOPOES. 



The Hoopoes are a very small and very isolated family. They are 

 associated by Sclater witlt the KingfisherSj the Rollers, the Bee-eaters, 

 the Hornbills, and some other birds ; but Forbes placed them with the 

 Kingfishers and the Woodpeckers, whilst Gadow regards them as nearest 

 allied to the Hornbills and the Kingfishers. The sternum has only one 

 notch on each side of the posterior margin, as in the Passerine birds. 

 Huxley places them between the Hornbills and the Bee-eaters ; but in 

 their pterylosis they are said to resemble the Kingfishers more than the 

 Hornbills. In their digestive organs they resemble both these families ; 

 they are also said to resemble the Hornbills in their myology. 



The Hoopoes have two complete moults in the year, in March and 

 September. 



Sclater removes the African Wood-Hoopoes into a separate family, 

 Irrisoridse, which differ in many respects from the true Hoopoes, being 

 without crests and having metallic colours on the plumage. The notch 

 on each side of the posterior margin of the sternum is closed at the 

 entrance. If we divide the Upupidse into two subfamilies, the Upupinse 

 and Irrisorinae, the true Hoopoes will be comprised in one genus. Both 

 subfamilies agree in having a slender curved bill, rounded wings composed 

 of ten primaries, tail of ten feathers, and the hind toe and claw well 

 developed, as in the Passeridse. 



Only half a dozen species of Hoopoes are known, which have a very 

 restricted range. They inhabit the southern portion of the Palsearctic 

 Region, and the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions, but in the latter they 

 are absent from the Indo-Malayan Subregion. One species oaly is found 

 in Europe, which occasionally visits our islands. 



Genus UPUPA. 



The genus Upupa was recognized by Linnaeus in the 13th edition of 

 his ' Systema Naturae,^ i. p. 183, published in 1766. U. epops (the Upupa 

 upupa of Brisson) is the type. 



The Hoopoes have long, slender, and slightly curved bills, but may be 

 distinguished by their well-developed erectile crests. The wings are long. 



