THE HOOPOE. 
625 
their postures and gesticulations. Each insect that the 
old birds capture, with their long forcep-like beaks, is 
thrown up in the air and caught again in the gape, 
because without this manoeuvre they are totally unable to 
swallow their prey. Before the old bird has been able to 
do this the whole tribe of youngsters rush up, and seek 
to snatch away the morsel; they are, however, too 
clumsy as yet to succeed. This little exhibition is 
amusing in the extreme, and the more so if a Hawk 
or other bird of prey arrives on the scene, when a sudden 
outcry is raised, and one and all have resort in the 
greatest haste to the old trick, and in an instant half 
a dozen coloured rags are apparently laying on the 
ground/ or the nearest tree is sought; and in a 
trice the whole family are hidden from sight, the 
“houp, houp,” of the male giving the only clue to their 
whereabouts. 
The Hoopoe is easily tamed, and is a pleasant com¬ 
panion that one may allow to run about the room. 
When reared from the nest they do well, and, as 
Naumann states, soon become tame and confiding, not only 
attaching themselves to their master, but evincing much 
discrimination and intelligence: they follow him every¬ 
where, even in the open air, without it ever entering into 
their heads to fly away; they will lavish caresses on 
him, and can tell from his manner or gestures how to 
behave, accommodating themselves to his various moods. 
In short, in this respect they stand far above our most 
intelligent cage-birds. That the Hoopoe is persecuted 
by many birds of prey may, from its extraordinary 
* I have myself seen a wounded Hoopoe try to elude my search by going through 
the manoeuvre previously described.— W. J. 
