AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 251 



Trhicli my friend, Mr. Dresser, has made use in his 

 work on the ' Birds of Europe ' ; it runs as follows : — 

 " The Hoopoe seems, as a rule, to prefer a hole in a 

 hollow ash or willow for nesting in, but I have seen 

 a nest on the ground under a large stone, others in 

 holes on the sunny side of mud or brick walls, one 

 in a fissure of limestone rock, and one in a small 

 cavern. The eggs when first laid are of a beautiful 

 pale greenish blue, but soon become stained and 

 dirty, so that the average Hoopoe's e^^ is of a dirty 

 yellow colour. In some instances I have found a 

 good deal of nest (bents, feathers, a few small twigs, 

 &C.J5 in one or two cases no nest at all, the eggs 

 lying on the bare wood, but in almost every instance 

 ordure of some kind, human, bovine, or equine, and 

 invariably an almost intolerable stench." We have 

 kept several young Hoopoes in captivity for some 

 months, feeding them principally upon ants' eggs, 

 mealworms, flies, and earthworms : their manner of 

 killing a worm is by pinching it between their man- 

 dibles and rapping it on the ground ; when dead the 

 worm is tossed into the mouth and swallowed with a 

 backward jerk of the head. These birds in many 

 instances became very tame, and were very interesting 

 pets, but all died from the same cause, viz.* the split- 

 ting of their bills and the consequent impossibility of 

 picking up their food. The Hoopoe is fond of dusting 

 itself, and may often be seen so doing on the sandy 

 footpaths and bridle-roads of Southern Europe. The 

 eggs and newly-hatched young of this species are, in 

 Spain, often devoured by the large spotted lizards 

 (Lacerta ocellata) which abound in most parts of 

 that country. With reference to the habit of this 

 bird of raising and depressing its crest, a gamekeeper 



