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of migratory birds that twice every year 
pass the Island of Malta. They are also 
observed every year at Gibralter, in the 
month of March, on their passage to the 
north, and are there called March Cocks. 
In Turkey they are called Tir Chaous or 
the Messenger Bird, from the resemblance 
their crest has to the plumes worn by the 
Chaous or Turkish Couriers. In Sweden 
their appearance is deemed portentious of 
war. 
Sonnini in his Egyptian Travels says, that 
"there is scarcely one sandy spot however 
small, provided it be in the neighbourhood 
of cultivated lands, where Hoopoes are 
not seen scratching with their feet, and 
thrusting their long bills into the ground, 
in search of insects which abound in these 
parts. " 
The flight of the Hoopoe is similar to 
that of the Woodpecker. 
The Latin Vpupa appears to be formed 
from the note of the b\vA 9 pou, pou, and 
ancient Mythology pretends to give us 
the origin of this cry. Tereus, king of 
Thrace, having ravished Philomela, the 
