28 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
it had been killed some days, and the eyes were sunk, I could 
make no good observation on the colour of the pupils and the 
irides. 
The most unusual birds I ever ob- . 
the walks, many times in the day, and seemed disposed to breed 
in my outlet ; but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, 
who would never let them be at rest.* 
Three gross-beaks (loxia coccothraustes) appeared some years 
ago in my fields, in the winter ; one of which I shot : since that, 
now and then one is occasionally seen in the same dead season.f 
* In Latham's General Synopsis" there is an account of a young hoopoe {Upupa vulgaris) y in 
its nestling plumage, having been shot in this country in the month of May. They have been seen 
m varioiis parts of Great Britain, from Devonshire to the North of Scotland ; but are extremely 
rare, though a few probably make their appearance every season. A pair took up their abode ia 
a garden near my residence, but were shot down almost immediately. They hardly ever perch, 
but find their subsistence almost wholly upon the ground, where they strut about with great 
stateliness, and feed chiefly— if not wholly— upon insect food, which they often seek for among 
the excrements of horses and cattle. Bechstein, who kept several of them in confinement, ob- 
serves that, " when walking about a room, it makes a continual motion with its head, tapping 
the floor with its beak, so that it seems as if walking with a stick, at the same time shaking its 
crest, wings, and tail." They would appear to be remarkably docile in confinement. M. von 
Schauroth, a correspondent of Bechstein, states of a pair that he kept that *• they would never 
touch earthworms, but were very fond of beetles and may-bugs. These they first killed, and then 
beat them with the beak into a kind of oblong ball ; this done, they would throw it into the air, 
and endeavour to catch and swallow it lengthwise. If it fell across the throat they were obliged 
to begin again, their tongue (which is heart-shaped) being too short to turn the food into the 
throat.'^ [The same curious habit may be observed in the rollers (Coracios), and in the toucan 
family {RamphastidcB) t which also have tongues of peculiar make.] The writer continues — 
*' Instead of bathing they roll in the sand. I took them one day into a neighbouring field, that 
they might catch insects for themselves, and had then an opportunity of remarking their innate 
fear of birds of prey. No sooner did they perceive a raven, or even a pigeon, than they were on 
their bellies in an instant, their wings stretched out by the side of the head, so that the large 
quill-feathers touched ; they were thus surrounded by a sort of crown, formed by the feathers 
of the tail and wings, the head leaning on the back, with the bill pointing upwards, in which 
curious position they might easily be taken for an old rag. A*s soon as the bird that frightened 
them had passed, they rose up immediately, uttering cries of joy. They were very fond of lying 
in the sun, and showed their content by repeating, in a quivering tone, * vec, vec, vec* When 
angry, their notes are harsh, and the male (which is knovra by being of a redder colour) cries 
* hoop, hoop,' " whence the name of the species. This bird breeds in the holes of trees, laying 
from two to four speckled eggs in a nest formed of dry cow-dung and small roots, which in 
course of time becomes extremely fetid with the castings of the young. In autumn they associate 
in small flocks, frequenting pasture and meadow lands ; and they migrate from Europe in Sep- 
tember, making their re-appearance about April. — Ed. 
t The extreme shyness of the haw gross beak in summer prevents its being often seen at that 
season. 1 know two or three localities, however, in Surrey, where they annually breed. — En. 
