Birds With long, curved bills. 197 



transverse bars alternately black and white ; tail black, 

 with white crossbar ; large crest ^ rich buff, opening 

 forwards fan wise, each feather with a white spot before ' 

 the end and black -tipped at the end ; bill very long 

 and slender, curved downwards. Winter migrant. 



Distribution. — A bird of passage at times of 

 migration, principally on the east and south coasts 

 of England ; occurs also in England in the west, and 

 in south Wales, but rarely farther northward ; regular 

 annual visitant to Ireland, chiefly south. 



Eufous-buff in almost the whole body, and having 

 black and white markings on wings and tail as 

 bold as those of a tiger-moth, the Hoopoe is quite 

 unlike any other British bird. It is of the size of 

 a Fieldfare, but of even more elegant figure. It 

 feeds in the open, generally on grass lands, and 

 resembles the Starling in its quick runnings hither 

 and thither with depressed head, for ever beating a 

 tattoo on the ground with its long, fine, curved 

 bill searching for grubs and worms. But it has a 

 grace of form and movement quite foreign to the 

 Starling. It goes with a walking, not a hopping, 

 gait. When disturbed, it stands erect, fans its crest 

 forward, then lays it sleekly back, and, with a low, 

 harsh cry, flies off' with slowly and deeply flapping 

 wings, so deeply as to pass inwards beneath the body, 

 and to give to its flight the bounding motion of that 

 of some butterflies. Sometimes it twists in flight 

 like an excited Lapwing or sportive Crow. Upon 

 alighting on some lower branch the Hoopoe erects 

 its crest and bobs its head repeatedly. The note is 

 a gentle, fljiting ' Oo!' uttered twice or thrice in 



