if for breath, and may then be approached and shot much more
easily than at other times. When on the wing it occasionally utters
short piercing cries. This Hornbill is almost omnivorous j but its
principal food consists of berries, young shoots, and insects.”
Adult male.—Head and neck all round dark grey, with a tolerably
broad white eyebrow produced to the nape, where the two join; rest
of upper surface brown, mottled with white edgings to the feathers,
especially down the centre of the mantle; the wing-coverts and
secondaries brown, the primaries blacker, all broadly edged and
tipped with buffy white; tail black, broadly tipped with white, the
two centre feathers more narrowly tipped and laterally rayed with
brownish white; under surface dull white, inclining to brown on the
sides of the body and chest, the latter being narrowly striped with
black shaft-lines; under wing-coverts ashy white, the quills dark
brown below, inclining to white near the base of the inner web;
bill black, with a white streak on the upper mandible; legs dark
olive brown) iris dark hazel (Buckley). Total length, 19 inches;
wing, 8'6 ) tail, 8'5; tarsus, 1 ‘6.
The female has the bill red, with a much larger yellowish patch
on the upper mandible than in the male : the base of the lower
mandible black. This sex has generally been separated as a distinct
species, but independent observers in different parts of Africa have
now determined that the sexes of this Hornbill differ in the colour
of the bill.
Fig. Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. pis. 236, 237.
Fam. UPUPID2E.
124. T J p u p a a f r i c a n a . South African Hoopo’e.
Upupa minor, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 72.
This Hoopoe is the most easily recognised of all the species of the
genus TJpupa by its entirely black quills, not to mention its deep
rufous coloration and the absence of white on the crest-feathers.
I t is not found to our knowledge within the Table Mountain
peninsula: the nearest spot whence we have received it being Swel-
lendam. At the latter place we saw them in considerable numbers,
always feeding on the ground, into which they thrust their long bills
in search of their insect food. Mr. L. Layard found several pairs at
Grootevaders Bosch, breeding in the old Kraal walls: they made no
nest, but just laid their eggs on the mud that Md been used
in cementing the stones in the rough wall: the eggs were very pale
greenish blue, unequally smeared throughout with indistinct markings
of pale brown. It is certainly the “ ill bird of the proverb”
that fouls its own nest, for the filth is described to us as intolerable.
It is very common in the Karroo towards Beaufort and Nel’s
Poort, frequenting the thickets of mimosa trees which border all
the rivers of that district. Its monotonous cry of “ hoop-poop ”
resounds the entire day. It is shy and difficult of approach, searching
for its insect prey about the rugged limbs of trees or crevices of
rocks. Mr. Atmore writes:—“ They are migratory; we did not see
them at Meiring’s Poort from February till June : they then came
in, but were in bad plumage.” Mr. Rickard notices it from the
neighbourhood of East London and Port Elizabeth ; and Mr. T. 0.
Atmore has sent several specimens from Eland's Post. Mr. Ayres
observes:—“ These birds are very scarce in Natal: when found they
are generally solitary, and only very occasionally a pair are found
together. I know little or nothing of their habits from personal
observation: they often feed on the ground, and are very shy generally.”
During his journey to the Matabili country, Mr. T. E.
Buckley says it was common in the bush country north of Pretoria,
but he does not remember seeing it further than Bamangwato.
He observes :—“ It is rather a shy bird, the note and the habits
being the same as those of U. epops.” In the Zambesi, writes Dr.
Kirk, it is “ everywhere rather rare, but widely distributed; found
in the interior of the continent and near the coast. It is not injured
by the natives, by some of whom it is named the e Little Doctor,5
in connexion with some superstition.”
The following account of the species is given by Mr. Andersson
in his well-known work:—“ This species is very abundant in Damara
Land during, the wet season, but gradually disappears with the
return of the hot weather, though a few individuals remain throughout
the year; it is also common at Lake N'gami. When it first
arrives in Damara Land it is seen in straggling flocks, which soon,
more or less, disperse; yet a number of individuals are often found
in close proximity, leading a person unacquainted with the habits of