UPUPA NIGBIPENNIS. 
(THE SOUTH -INDIAN HOOPOE.) 
and Eggs, p. 163 d 87 8 ) ■ Le SS®> ’ ’ 4g (m9) . Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 
ta senegalensis, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A S. B. p. «> » • 
p. 119 ( 1852 ) ; Layat-d, Ann. ft Mag. Nat. fig . 40s6 (1861) . 
TZ ™. *. w P . * a«i> 
/^Wllm-l. ; Kondeh pitta, lit. “ Crested Bird," also Rutudm gum, ielugn. 
Chaval Jcuruvi , lit. “ Cock Bird,” Tamils m Ceylon. 
Adult male. Length 10-8 to 11-75 inches ; wing 6-1 to 5-5 ; tail 3-5 to 4-0 ; tarsus 0-85 to 0 9 , middle 
0-85 to 0-95 ; bill from gape (straight) 2-1 to 2-ob. 
, x amo-to -IA.Q ; lnf -hes • wino- 4-7 to 5-0 ; bill to gape 2-0 to 2-2. 
Z7LJ-W black, pale brown at \he blse of upper mandible, fleshy red at the base of lower; legs and feet pale 
region, .nd pal. vin.ce.u, on the ion, neck »d cbe. i * Vcvor.,, tail, and wing. black , the 
terminal black bar and oatmtmdhj a pah adjacent p _ ■ • 1 l m/ , Illar bar acr0 „ the centre o£ the tad, a 
lower part of back crossed with white, and the rump , ■ " ^ 0 „ ft( . .mcinfe., and another on 
broad band across the terminal portion of pmnanes ( _ } a white spot, at other times without ; tertials 
the median coverts and scapulars white ; 1st primary sometim^ centre from the base, the light 
with white edges, an oblique streak across the >“« with the hind neck ; beneath, from the 
and in others on the sides only, with b.sckish mesial sfrenks 1 
under wing pale cinnamon-red. 
Young. The nestling is covered at first with pure white down, which is 
normal colour, the crest showing at once. 
Obs. In Ceylonese examples of this Hoopoe, a gn lower parts striated alike or 
noticeable on the head f may perhaps be a chatncter of 
the tertials similarly marked , the spot o P > tbe palest in colour and always 
have the white .pot ■» Others , but notwithstanding it does exist, though it is not so whit. 
examples °i'rom northern parts of India-the race, U in^of “^ ITof LTather. 
Tm rehed^iponat all as a characteristic of this Hoopoe ; some are tolerably 
straight, 0 others much curved ; some long, -f be considered distinct from the present, has more white 
The North-Indian variety {Upupa mdtea of Hod g so )> Hodgson's type was collected in Nepal, and the 
(and has it more cons, anil, ) at the edge the present species and V **.. 
race it represents seems to me worthy of being co European bird ; but they are 
Specimens from “ North Bengal,” in the British Museum have the pale _ heads otthe ^ , g ^ sq white . 
longer in the bill than the generality of the latter, auc c U 1 1 , respectively. In U. epops the 
two° examples have the wings 5-6 and 5-1 inches, and the ^ bird , 
bill is variable in length, but its pale plumage and white covert-bar make it very distinct 
than which also it has a longer wing. 
quickly interspersed with feathers of the 
