HOOPOE, 
breast and belly are white, variegated with 
longitudinal streaks, which disappear in the 
middle as the bird grows older; the tail, which 
is black, and composed of ten feathers, has in 
i-t a white spot of a crescent shape, the horns 
pointing towards it's extremity. The wings, 
which are black, transversely streaked with 
white, do not extend, when folded, to the tail, 
InEgypr, the Hoopoes are said to gather in 
small flocks ; in most other countries they ap- 
pear cither single or in pairs only. Sometimes, 
during the season of their passage, numbers may 
be found in the same distri6l : but, ButFon says, 
these are solitary individuals, unconneclsd by 
any social tie ; and, when hunted, rise one after 
another. 'I'hey are scattered through almost 
the whole of the ancient continent, from 
Sweden, and even the Orkneys and Lapland, 
as far as the Canaries and the Cape of Good 
Hope on the one hand, and the islands of 
Ceylon and Java on the other ; but are only 
migratory in every j)drt of Europe. They are 
sometimes found at sea : and excellent ob- 
servers class them with tliose birds which twice 
in the year pass the island of Malta. Li some 
countries, 
