THE HOOPOE. 
69 
shades, tinged by beautifully reflected lights. As 
its name implies, it lives chiefly upon bees, which it 
catches on the wing. 
The Hoopoe is another elegant bird, very scarce, 
but not quite so rare as the Bee-Eater. One was 
not long ago caught on Salisbury Plain, in a weak 
and exhausted state ; it must have come from a 
distance, as its beak was filled with red clay, of a 
quality not found in that neighbourhood. If fatigued 
from the journey it had performed, the distance 
must have been very great, for one approached a 
vessel in the middle of the Atlantic, and kept com- 
pany with it a good way, hut did not settle on hoard, 
which it probably would have done had it been 
tired. 
It is common in some parts of the Continent, and 
by no means wild, for we have seen it on the ground, 
and on the trees, in a public walk at Seville, but is 
most abundant in Egypt and Arabia, where they 
are called the children of Solomon, from a tradition 
that they formed part of the cargo of the “ navy of 
Tharshish," bringing to him from Ophir “ gold and 
silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks/' I Kings x. 22. 
It is currently believed by the people of the country, 
that its crest was then a crown of gold, but that the 
avidity of mankind for this precious metal occasion- 
ing the birds to be often killed for their crowns, 
they assembled together, and represented their case 
to Solomon himself. This monarch, in his great 
wisdom, understood the languages of all animals, as 
well as of all people, on the face of the earth ; and 
hearing, and pitying their case, he prayed to their 
Creator to ameliorate their destiny, when the crown 
