THE HOOPOES. 
59 
The Hoopoes may be divided into two Families, the True 
Hoopoes {Upupid(e) and the Wood-Hoopoes {Irrisoridce). 
The latter are peculiar to the forest- and bush-districts of Africa, 
and have a good deal of metallic colour in their plumage. 
The tail is very long and wedge-shaped, and the nostril has a 
well-developed operculum, or shelf, to it. 
THE TRUE HOOPOES. FAMILY UPUPID^. 
This Family contains but a single genus, Ufupa, with five 
species, all very much resembling each other in appearance. 
They have an erectile crest, shaped like a compressed fan and 
ornamented with a sub-terminal bar of black. The bill is 
long and slender and decurved towards the end. The other 
principal characters will be found under the heading of the 
Sub-order. 
THE HOOPOES. GENUS UPUPA. 
Upupa, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 183. 
Type, U. epops, Linn. 
Of the five species known to science, the Common Hoopoe 
has the widest distribution in Europe, South-eastern and North- 
rvestern Africa, eastwards to China and Japan, as well as the 
Peninsula of India, in the southern portion of which its place 
is taken by the Indian Hoopoe (K indica), which extends 
throughout the Burmese countries to Southern China and 
Hainan. In Somali-land a distinct species, U. mnalensis, 
occurs, and in Madagascar U. margmata takes the place of our 
European bird. The fifth species, U. africana, is found over 
South Africa, and extends to the Congo on the west and to 
Zanzibar on the east ; it is a smaller and more richly-coloured 
bird, and has no white band on the primaries. 
I. THE COMMON HOOPOE. UPUPA EPOPS. 
Upupa epops, Linn. S. N. i. p. 183 (1766); Macg. Br. B. iii. 
p. 41 (1840); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 179, pi. 298 (1871); 
Newton, ed. Yarn ii. p. 419 (1874; ; B. O. U. List Br. B. 
p. 83 (1883); Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 334 (1884) t Lilford, 
Col. Fig. Br. B. part vii. (1888); Saunders, Man. p. 275 
(1889); Salvin, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 4 (1892). 
