Hoopoe

“ Not a year passes but the hoopoe makes its appearance in some part or other of the British Islands, most often in spring, and if unmolested would doubtless stop to breed in them, and a few instances are known in which it has done so. But its remarkable plumage always attracts attention, and it is generally shot down so soon as it is seen, and before it has time to begin a nest. ”

“ The hen hoopoe, although she does not adopt the heroic measure of closing up the entrance to the nest cavity, is said never to leave the nest until the young have emerged from the eggs. No sight is commoner in India than that of a hoopoe carrying food to the aperture of a hole in a tree, or in a building made of mud, in which his spouse is sitting. ”

“ Courtship is the order of the day. The display of this beautiful species is not at all elaborate. The bird that "shows off" merely runs along the ground with corona fully expanded. Mating hoopoes, however, perform strange antics in the air; they twist and turn and double, just as a flycatcher does when chasing a fleet insect. Both the hoopoe and the roller are veritable aerial acrobats. By the end of the month all but a few of the hoopoes have begun to nest; most of them have eggs, while the early birds, described in January as stealing a march on their brethren, are feeding their offspring. ”

“ Moreover, if the hoopoe were to carry the food to the nest in the angle of the beak as most birds do, it would be difficult to transfer this to the long bill of the young bird. Hence it comes to pass that hoopoes visit their nestlings a very great number of times in the course of the day.
When young hoopoes emerge from the egg they are silent creatures, but before they are many days old they begin to welcome with squeaks the arrival of the [192] parents with food. The older the young birds grow the more vociferous they become. ”

“ Pleasing as is the appearance of the hoopoe as it fearlessly parades its showy plumage, some of its habits are much the reverse. All observers agree in stating that it delights to find its food among filth of the most abominable description, and this especially in its winter-quarters. But where it breeds, its nest, usually in the hole of a tree or of a wall, is not only partly composed of the foulest material, but its condition becomes worse as incubation proceeds, for the hen scarcely ever leaves her eggs, being assiduously fed by the cock as she sits ”

“ Most birds when they feed their young collect several organisms in the beak between the visits to the nest. Not so the hoopoe; it brings but one thing at a time, which it carries at the extreme tip of the bill. The reasons for this departure from the usual practice are obvious. The long bill of the hoopoe, like that of the snipe, is a probe to penetrate the earth. ”

“ The food of the Hoopoe consists chiefly of insects, with the remains of which its nest is sometimes so filled as to become extremely offensive. This beautifully-crested bird is not at all common in this country, and is solitary, two of them being seldom{289} seen together, while in Egypt, where Hoopoes are very common, they are often seen in small flocks. The female generally constructs her nest in a hollow tree, the materials employed, in addition to the remains of their food, being very scanty, consisting in fact of a few dried grass stalks and feathers. ”

“ The Jewish Bible retains the word lapwing, but adds the mark of doubt. Commentators are, however, agreed that of all these interpretations, that which renders the word as Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is the best.
There would be no particular object in the prohibition of such a bird as the lapwing, or any of its kin, while there would be very good reasons for the same injunction with regard to the Hoopoe. ”

“ It is sad to think that people exist who can bring themselves to write such nonsense as Mr. Oyler has inflicted on the readers of the Fortnightly Review.
It is said that a pair of hoopoes uses the same nest year after year. I have not been able to verify this statement owing to the demands on my peripatetic capacity made by the exigencies of the public service.
The eggs of the hoopoe are elongated ovals of a dirty white colour; euphemists describe them as dingy olive-brown or green, while euphuists portray them as having a delicate greyish blue tint. They are devoid of markings. ”

“ The hoopoe usually lays its eggs in a hole in a tree or a building; on rare occasions only, in a crevice of a rock or under a large stone. The most approved nesting site is a roomy cavity, as dark and dirty as possible, with a very small opening leading to the world without. ”

“ He said to the hoopoe:
'I will haggle no more. You shall learn to your cost what the bargainer buys,
Whose faith levies toll upon duty, whose trust will not serve me on trust,
Or love for Love. On your head be it.' The hoopoe said: 'Cheshm—on my eyes!' [Pg 73]
"All other birds fainted with envy, as Suleiman lifted a digit. ”

“ By the way, we might mention that the Kingfisher is by no means the only bird of gay plumage that as it were fouls its own nest, for the Hoopoe, a handsome bird with a wonderful crest, possesses a nest which, during the course of incubation, is rendered filthy and obnoxious from the droppings of the female, conditions which become worse when the young are hatched. ”

“ They revel in soft ground. The comparatively hard probe-like bill of the hoopoe enables the bird to extract insects from ground on which the soft-billed snipe could make no impression. But hoopoes prefer soft ground; from it they can obtain food with but little effort. Unfortunately for them, velvety lawns are not common in India; hence the birds flock to those that exist as eagerly as Europeans rush to the Himalayas in June. ”

“ Hoopoe in Anglesea.—Whilst engaged in investigating the occurrence of rare birds in Cheshire, I recently came across a specimen of the Hoopoe (Upupa epops) in a keeper's cottage at Carden, which had been shot by the gamekeeper at Bodyor, near Holyhead, "about twenty-two years ago." — T.A. Coward (Bowdon, Cheshire) .
Peregrine in Suffolk.—On Jan. 17th I saw in the flesh, at Bury St. Edmunds, one of the finest adult female Peregrines (Falco peregrinus) which has ever come under my notice, shot by a keeper within an hour's walk of Bury Station. ”

“ Of all birds that hatch for themselves the hoopoe is the only one that builds no nest whatever; it gets into the hollow of the trunk of a tree, and lays its eggs there without making any sort of nest. ”

“ When one of the kind of bird to which it has been trained is flushed, the hawker takes the shikra in his hand, holds it between his thumb and fingers, and then throws it like a javelin in the direction of its quarry. Thus it enjoys the benefit of a flying start, but, notwithstanding this, it generally fails to make a catch.
The contest between a merlin and a hoopoe is an exceedingly pretty sight. ”

“ It was by aid of this “worm,” which shaped the stone-work for him, that Solomon was able to build his Temple without sound of hammer or saw. Other versions assert that a raven or an eagle was the bird, and that the magic glass-breaker was a stone brought from the uttermost East.
The story travelled to Greece, and there became attached to the hoopoe, a small crested bird that figures largely in south-European and African wonder-tales. A hoopoe, runs the Greek story, had a nest in an old wall in which was a crevice. ”

“ This shooting of every straggler to the Channel Islands is a great pity, especially with the spring arrivals, as some of them might well be expected to remain to breed occasionally if left undisturbed; and the proof of the Hoopoe breeding in the Channel Islands would be much more interesting than the mere possession of a specimen of so common and well-known a bird: if a local specimen should be wanted, it could be obtained equally well in autumn, when there would be no question as to the breeding. ”

“ In Northern India during the month of April it is scarcely possible to find an adult hoopoe who is not employed from sunrise to sunset in digging insects out of the ground with feverish haste and flying with them to the holes in which the youngsters are calling lustily. ”

“ To show the truth of this story, it is only necessary to come to Egypt, when the most sceptical will be at once converted, as he will see that every single Hoopoe to this day is indeed right royally crowned as no other bird is. ”

“ The hoopoe generally makes its nest of human ordure. It changes its appearance in summer and winter, like most other wild birds. The titmouse, as they say, lays the greatest number of eggs, some say that the bird called melancoryphus lays the greatest number of eggs after the Libyan sparrow, seventeen have been observed, but it will produce more than twenty, and, as they say, it always lays a great many. This bird also builds in trees, and lives upon worms. It is characteristic of this bird and the nightingale not to have any tip to their tongue. ”

“ The weird-like form of the hoopoe may constantly be seen drifting before a south wind in spring, or hastening southward in August, seldom in flocks, but so numerous that on one occasion, on a projecting rock in the island of Gozo, we saw in the course of half an hour no less than ten hoopoes arrive, one after another. None of the woodpeckers, neither the creeper, nuthatch, nor the wren, seem to migrate. The warblers no doubt constitute by far the greatest minority of the birds of passage, and may be said to be most punctual in their time of arrival and departure. ”

“ Most pairs of hoopoes are now accompanied by at least one young bird which is almost indistinguishable from the adults. The young birds receive, with squeaks of delight, the grubs or caterpillars proffered by the parents. Occasionally a pair of hoopoes may be seen going through the antics of courtship preparatory to raising a second brood. ”

“ They are twenty miles apart, and both about nine miles from shore. There is no land to the westward nearer than America. On both occasions the birds are said to have appeared tired. On April 12th, a Hoopoe was shot at Eagle Island, E. (Mr Daniel Hawkins) , off Mayo, and forwarded in the flesh.
From Blackrock (Mayo) , Mr Edward Rohu forwarded a Turtle Dove—a rare and unexpected visitor in such a locality. From the Tearaght, Co. Kerry (Mr F. Ryan) , the skin of a Spotted Crake—very rare in Ireland—was sent. Bird caught August 21st. ”

“ Thus, in the north of England, where the wheatear is not very common, the sight of it is supposed to presage death to the spectator, and the country-people kill the bird and destroy its eggs on every opportunity. In the north of England also, the hoopoe has the reputation of being an unlucky bird. In many parts of England it is accounted unlucky to see a solitary magpie, but lucky to see two together. One is supposed to presage sorrow ”

“ But it is not always feeding, and when walking about in stately fashion on some mud wall, lifting its great circular crown of feathers ever and again, whilst it utters its call-name hoop-hoop-hoopoe, it is so picturesque and charming one has to pass its nasty little peculiarities by. We have to do this frequently with our own unfeathered{46} friends for the good we presume they possess, and there is much that is good in this perky little bird. ”

“ With its long beak it digs in the ground for grubs, beetles, and crickets; or it gathers ants on its viscous tongue. When it has had enough it withdraws to some low branch and there digests its food at leisure. At the mating season it says, poo, poo, whence without doubt comes its familiar nickname of poo-poo.
“Elegant though it is in appearance, the hoopoe is not at all particular about the condition of its nest, which it makes in the interior of a worm-eaten tree trunk. It lines the hole with a mortar composed of clay and cows’ dung, whereon it places a little bed of dry leaves and moss. ”

“ In fact, this is the first time during some years afloat that I have seen any sea bird settle on a vessel at sea, though when at anchor it is not unusual for some of the Laridæ to settle for a while.
No other bird visited us till after we had left Aden, on Sept. 10th, and were entering the Red Sea on the 12th, when a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) arrived during the night, and was discovered at sunrise. The efforts of a sailor in trying to catch it frightened the bird away, and it failed to return. ”

“ Were a man to eat its flesh he would become nervous in the jungle and would jump whenever a twig or a leaf dropped near him. The cry of the Long-tailed Broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousiæ) is a sign of rain, and whoever eats its flesh will always have bad weather when he goes to work in his fields. The hoopoe is such a curious bird that to eat it might mean disaster to the clan. Hawks are continually dropping excreta. ”

“ The hills to our north crowded closely together, the inner ranges are very high, with the appearance of snow.
Hindoo-koosh is dimly seen in the distance to the eastward. In some streams water birds, particularly the small kingfisher of India are seen. The Hoopoe is common, Merops, Pastor, and ravens. New plants a Boragineæ floribus infundibuliformis, tubiformibus, lœta cæruleis, venosa roseis, melons. Snow on the Hindoo-koosh: rain in the afternoon, and at night a heavy thunderstorm to the north. ”

“ And so following the bird, he reached a golden palace in which the fairy Sila Samodiva was living. He entered the palace by holding on to the tuft of the lark, which has since remained dishevelled. A fairy put him to various trials, which he [239] successfully accomplished, and thus was able to rescue his sister and to return home in safety.
Needless to point out, that in these two tales we have parallels to the famous legend of the hoopoe in the Solomonic cycle. In it Solomon orders all the birds to come and render homage; only one bird does not appear at the proper time. ”