288 
Birds. 
America, where it migrates to the north in summer, and 
is there seen even in Canada and the country of Hudson's 
Bay. 
THE HOOPOE. (Upupa epops.) 
This is a small bird, measuring no more than twelve 
inches from the point of the bill to the end of the tail. 
The bill is sharp, black, and somewhat bending. The 
head is adorned with a very beautiful, large moveable 
crest, a kind of bright halo, the radiation of which places 
the head nearly in the centre of a golden circle. This 
pleasing ornament, which the bird sets up or lets fall at 
pleasure, is composed of a double row of feathers, reach- 
ing from the bill to the nape of the neck, which is of a 
pale red. The breast is white, with black streaks tend- 
ing downwards; the wings and back are varied with 
white and black cross-lines. The food of the Hoopoe 
consists chiefly of insects, with the remains of which its 
nest is sometimes so filled as to become extremely offen- 
sive. This beautifully- crested bird is not at all common 
in this country, and is solitary, two of them being seldom 
