THE HOOPOE 143 
able king-crows dare not take liberties with them. The 
other day, as I was walking through a compound, I 
came across a pair of hoopoes feeding on the grass. 
A king-crow, which was perched on a tree hard by, 
made a dash at an insect and passed close to one of 
the hoopoes. The latter appeared to regard this as an 
affront, for he pecked savagely at the passing king- 
crow; the latter, having no mind to act as a target for 
the hoopoe, changed its course. Presently it had oc- 
casion again to pass quite close to the hoopoe, and the 
latter again pecked at it viciously, The king-crow 
then decided to go and hunt insects in a less dangerous 
place. 
Hoopoes are, upon the whole, silent birds. They 
sometimes emit a curious little note, which Colonel 
Cunningham syllabizes as “tik, tk, ik, tk, ik.” They 
can boast of no kind of song. 
Like the common barn-door fowl and a great many 
other birds, hoopoes indulge in a daily dust-bath. 
Sometimes one may surprise them just before sunset 
rubbing their feathers in the soft cleansing powder 
which lies in a thick layer upon the less-frequented 
parts of the road. I have never seen a hoopoe bath- 
ing in water; I have an idea that the bird, like cats 
and Tibetans, and unlike Scotsmen, has a theory that 
water is injurious to the skin and should be only ad- 
ministered internally. 
Both sexes are clothed alike, and as they are showy 
birds one would surmise that the hoopoe nests in a 
hole. This surmise is correct. The birds will build 
in almost any description of hole, in a cavity in the 
