210 A. Ezra—Nesting and Rearing of the European Hoopoe


Madagascar. They nest in holes in trees and also in walls and crevices

and fill the bottom of the nest with bits of straw and feathers and

excreta, with the result that there is always an offensive odour in

the nest. Five to seven eggs are laid, and sometimes up to ten and

twelve—colour of eggs greenish blue or olive. Incubation by hen only.

Nests from April to June. Feeds on insects and worms. Hoopoes

are rare in England, common in Central and South France.


My friend, Monsieur Plocq, sent me a few of these beautiful birds

which he had hand reared in the Vendee. As they arrived here in

October, it was too late to turn them out in the large aviaries, so

they were left all the winter in a large cage in my bird room. In May

they were turned out in one of my large aviaries. There were six birds

in all, and they soon settled down to their new life with dozens of other

birds in the aviary. One pair soon took charge of a log, which was

in the aviary for Parrakeets. This log was two feet in length, and was

hung about six feet from the ground on a post surrounded by ivy

The entrance to the nest being ten inches from the top of the log,,

and two inches in diameter. The inside of the log was 5J inches in

diameter. On 15th May five eggs were noticed, but the colour could

not be seen properly as it was seventeen inches from the top of the log

to the nest, but they appeared to be white. On 30th May three young

were noticed, covered in down. By 2nd June five young could be

seen. Their beaks were very short and wide, and did not appear to

lengthen until the young were fourteen days old and the feathers were

showing colour. When the young were three weeks old they were

almost as big as their parents, and their plumage also the same.


The old birds were not seen to feed the young for twelve days, after

that time the hen bird began to leave the nest more often, and then

one day three of the old birds were seen taking meal-worms and gentles

to the nest. They did not go right into the nest, but just put their

heads in the entrance hole, so it is not known whether the meal-worms

and gentles were dropped to the young, or whether the young stretched

up for them. The depth from the entrance hole to the nest was

seven inches. The young left the nest on the following dates : First

left the nest on 24th June, another on the 25th, two others on the 27th,

two on the 29th June.



