/ HOOPOE. 
The Hoopoe is one of the most elegant 
birds of Europe. Its beautiful crest can 
be raised or depressed at pleasure, but is 
seldom raised unless the bird is excited 
from some cause. Its food consists of in- 
sects, which it first batters and moulds 
into an oblong mass, and then swallows 
with a peculiar jerk of the head. 
In France, Hoopoes are very common, 
and may be seen examining old and rotten 
stumps for the insects that invariably 
congregate in such places. There they 
_ may be seen in flocks, but they never seem 
to go over to England in greater num- 
