THE HOOPOE. 259 



the destruction of many of these beautiful birds, 

 at a time when they are just about to pair and 

 commence nidification. 



The period of its migration into Europe in 

 the spring sets in early in April. The late 

 Commander Sperling, when stationed with his 

 vessel in the Mediterranean, frequently met with 

 Hoopoes at sea during their passage. In the 

 Enghsh Channel on the 15th April, 1854, a 

 Hoopoe after flying two or three times round 

 a steamer entered one of the windows of the 

 saloon and was taken, apparently exhausted with 

 fatigue. Another, on the 21st April, alighted 

 on a mackerel-boat between the Eddystone 

 Lighthouse and Plymouth Breakwater, in an 

 exhausted state, and allowed itself to be taken. 



The average date of arrival in England may 

 be said to be the third week in April, when the 

 species is more frequently met with in the 

 eastern and south-eastern counties, although it 

 wanders inland to a considerable distance. It 

 is regarded by Mr. R. Gray* as a straggler to 



1 " The Birds of the West of Scotland," p. 198. 



