Instances are 011 record of the Hoopoe having been killed in several other of the English counties,
particularly Cornwall, in North and South Wales, many parts o f Scotland (from its most southern point
to the Orkneys) ; and Thompson tells us thnt it occasionally appears in all parts of Ireland.
As our opportunities of acquiring a knowledge o f the habits of the bird in this country are but few,
I shall now give some extracts from the writings o f those who have seen the bird in India and China.
'• T he Hoopoe,” says Mr. Jerdon, “ is found in the Himalayas, in Northern India, in Lower Bengal,
and in various parts of India as far as the Neilgherries. I t extends to Nepaul, Assam, and perhaps to
Upper Bnrmah. Mussolmen venerate the Hoopoe on account of their supposing it to have been a favourite
bird of Solomon, who is said to have employed one as a messenger. I t nestles in holes of walls, trees,
&c., and lays several greenish-blue or bluish-white eggs. Pallas states that he once found a nest within
the exposed and barely decomposed thorax of a human body, with seven young birds ju st ready to fly, which
defended themselves with a most fetid fluid. Its voice is a pretty loud double or treble hoop, whence its
name in most languages.”
The breeding-habits o f the Hoopoe are nearly identical with those of the Hornbills, the female never quitting
her eggs, and being regularly fed by the male until her task is done.
Dr. David Scott, in a letter to Mr. Blyth, s a y s “ In 1865, two pairs o f Hoopoes bred in my verandah ;
after the hens beo-an to sit, I never saw them outside the nest, but observed that the two males fed them
regularly inside it. These birds were so tame and used to seeing me sitting in the verandah that my presence
never disturbed them in the le a s t; I was therefore quite familiar with them, and can assert most positively
that for a number o f days I never saw the female of either pair out. I did not pay any attention to the
circumstance of there being only two flying about until I observed both males going up to the nests with gnats
in their bills, giving a call and then putting their heads inside for the hens to take the food. The feeding-
times were about seven or eight o’clock in the morning and about four in the afternoon. I have seen the
males getting the gnats &c. close under the very steps I was sitting on, and almost within two yards of my
chair, then .flying up, giving a call, and coming down again directly the food was taken.”—Ibis, 1866, p. 222.
“ The flight o f the Hoopoe,” says the late Captain Boys, “ resembles that of a Woodpecker, being performed
in long undulating sweeps o f five o r six yards in extent. Its note resembles the syllables hoot, hoot,
hoot, pronounced quickly. When searching on the ground for food the head is moved upwards and downwards
in a very rapid manner, much like the tapping o f a Woodpecker, and this action is continued till the
entire bill is plunged in the earth to its base. Although its principal food is insects, I have occasionally
found the crop filled with grain and seeds. On the 13th o f March, 1842, I discovered a t Kullianpore, in
the hollow o f a tree, a nest composed o f two and three nearly fledged young.”
Mr. Swinhoe informs us that the Hoopoe is “ a resident bird throughout China, from Canton to Talien
Bay. Builds in holes of walls and exposed Chinese coffins. The younglings call for food with a hissing
noise. The male during the breeding-season utters its song o f love, ‘ Hoo-hoo-hoo.’ To produce these
notes the bird draws the air into its trachea, which puffs out on either side o f the neck, taps the bill
perpendicularly against a stone o r the trunk o f a tree, forces the breath down the tubular bill, and produces
the sound. Feeds on worms, for which it stamps the ground with its feet, clutching them by the head with
its bill. It bruises the worm by beating it against the ground, and then, throwing up its head, jerks it down
to its small mouth, and finally swallows it.”—Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 264.
“ Few birds,” says the Rev. H. B. Tristram, “ have had more absurd fables attached to them than the
Hoopoe. The Arabs have a superstitious reverence for it, and, believing it to possess marvellous medicinal
qualities, they call it the ‘ D octor bird.’ Its head is an indispensable ingredient in all their charms and
in the practice of witchcraft. They also believe that it listens to whispers and betrays secrets, and, what
is far more important, that it has the power o f detecting water and of pointing out hidden wells and springs.
These attributes have doubtless been suggested by the quaint and grotesque movements of its head and tall
crest, which it erects in walking, and then with a solemn portentous look it bends its head down till the bill
touches the ground. The Greeks and Romans had equally absurd superstitions respecting the Hoopoe. It
is considered a filthy feeder, chiefly from its habit of resorting to dunghills, which it probes assiduously with
its long delicate bill in search of small insects. It was probably from its filthy habits and resorts, as well
as from the superstitious reverence in which it was held by the Egyptians, that it was especially enumerated
among the unclean animals in the Mosaic Law.”— Natural History o f the Bible.
1 have somewhere met with the statement that if the Hoopoe be overshadowed by a Hawk or Falcon, it
squats close to the ground, with its great wings and tail expanded to the utmost, and that the markings o f the
wino-s then assume the form of a series o f black and white rings, in the midst of which the bill stands upright.
I must not close this account without recording my obligations to E. W. Vernon-Harcourt, Esq., for two
very fine specimens o f this bird, killed by himself in the Island of Madeira.
The Plate represents a male, a female, and a brood of young, of the natural size.