Family UPUPID^. 



THE HOOPOE. 



Upupa epops, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 25. 



This bird is a regular spring visitor to the southern parts of England, and were 

 it not for the constant and senseless persecution it receives at the hands of the 

 collector and others, would no doubt breed annually in this country. It is known 

 to have done so on several occasions, but very few of the birds which visit us 

 escape destruction, as they are very tame and confiding and have little fear of man. 



It was evidently more often seen in former days than at present, as Sir Thomas 

 Browne in his list of birds found in Norfolk, written some two hundred and fifty 

 years ago, quaintly describes it as " Upupa or Hoopebird so named from its note 

 a gallant marked bird wch I have often seen & tis not hard to shoot them." 



The Hoopoe is a common species in Southern Europe, and breeds throughout 

 the continent, ranging as far north as south Sweden, inhabiting also western 

 Siberia and other parts of Asia, including north-western India. It usually nests 

 in a hole in a tree, such as the ash or willow, or in a cavity in a rock or wall, the 

 few twigs, grasses, &c., which compose the nest being set in an accumulation of 

 ordure. From four to seven eggs are laid, of a pale greenish-blue, which soon 

 lose their beautiful colour. 



It feeds on insects, worms, and grubs, sought for among manure in pasture 

 lands and roads. The singular and far-reaching note of the Hoopoe is a hollow- 

 sounding whoop, repeated several times in succession. 



The birds pass a good deal of their time on the ground, where they " march 

 about in a stately manner," as Gilbert White observes, at times erecting their 

 showy crest if alarmed or excited and when first alighting. 



The female is hardly so brightly coloured as the male. 



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