THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.THE HOOPOES (Upupidæ).
Different as these birds are in appearance and habits, ornithologists now agree that from their structure they must be placed in close alliance with the Hornbills, with which they are more particularly connected by the Wood Hoopoes. Instead of the ungainly figures and top-heavy-looking casques of the Hornbills, the Hoopoes are remarkable for their graceful carriage and elegant figure, in which the beautiful crest plays an important part. They are particularly at home in the desert countries, where their sandy-coloured plumage is no doubt a great protection to them; and a story is told that the Hoopoe, if it sees a Hawk approaching, will throw itself flat on the ground, and by twisting its wings round in front and remaining motionless, with its bill pointing upwards, it will look like a piece of old rag, and thus escape detection.
Not more than five species of Hoopoe are known, all inhabitants of the Old World, and the most widely distributed is the Common Hoopoe (Upupa epops) of Europe, which visits England during the spring and autumn migration, and at least one instance of its breeding in that country is known. Mr. Howard Saunders states[278]:—“In the year 1847 a pair of Hoopoes nested in a hole of an old yew-tree in a shrubbery of an old-fashioned garden at Leatherhead, Surrey. The proprietor was very anxious that the birds should not be disturbed, and a strict veto was placed upon any bird’s-nesting in the shrubbery—a severe trial to our boyish propensities; but we were afterwards rewarded by seeing the parent birds with their young strutting about upon the lawn. As well as I remember, there were five young ones besides the two old birds.” The species is found all over central and southern Europe in summer, being in some places very plentiful; but it is a rare visitor to the northern parts, and has disappeared from some countries, like Denmark, for instance, where the felling of the old and hollow forest trees has deprived it of its accustomed breeding-places. In some places the bird is disliked, and in Scandinavia, where it occurs only in the southern and central portions, it bears a bad name among the peasantry, who suppose it to be a foreboder of war and hard times, and from this circumstance its name of Härfugel or “army bird,” is derived. The Chinese also have an objection to them, branding them by the name of “Coffin-bird,” as they often breed in the holes of exposed Chinese coffins. On the other hand, according to Canon Tristram, in the Sahara the Arabs have a superstitious veneration for the Hoopoe, and its magical properties enter largely into the arcana of the Arab “hakeem.” He says that great numbers of Hoopoes resort to the M’zab cities and frequent oases in winter, where they strut about the courtyards and round the tents with the familiarity of barn-door fowls. Mons. Favier says, that in Tangier the superstitious Jews and Mahomedans both believe that the heart and feathers of the Hoopoe are charms against the machinations of evil spirits.
COMMON HOOPOE.
COMMON HOOPOE.
The ordinary name of Hoopoe is derived from the note of the bird, and in most European languages the latter suggests the vernacular names. Thus, in Bulgaria it is calledPoo-poo, in ValentiaPut-Put,Bubbula, &c., in Italy,Poupain Portugal, and so on. Mr. Swinhoe writes of the bird and its note as follows:—“I have already described the peculiar way in which the Hoopoe produces its notes—by puffing out the sides of its neck, and hammering on the ground at the production of each note, thereby exhausting the air at the end of the series of three, which makes up its song. Before it repeats its call, it repeats the puffing of the neck with a slight gurgling noise. When it is able to strike its bill, the sound is the correcthoo-hoo-hoo; but when perched on a rope, and only jerking out the song with nods of the head, the notes more resemble the syllableshoh-hoh-hoh. Mr. Darwin makes use of this last fact to show that some birds have instrumental means to produce their music. It is not to this point, however, that I wish to call attention, but to the fact of the bird’s puffing out the sides of its neck. It is generally supposed that the song of a bird is produced by actions of the lower larynx on air passing up the bronchial tubes onwards and outwards through the main tube, or trachea. The trachea of the Hoopoe is not dilatable, but its œsophagus is; and the puffing of the neck is caused by the bulging of the œsophagus with swallowed air. There is no connection between theœsophagus and the trachea, and apparently no organ at the entrance to the former that could modify sound. What action, then, can this swallowed air be made to take in the production of the bird’s notes? Pigeons have strikingly large air-crops, which they empty with eachcoo, and refill before theycooagain. Many birds swell out the throat when calling or singing, and others move it up and down. These actions must also be caused by the swallowed air in the œsophagus, and must modify the sounds in some way, as variously used, adding power and richness in some cases, or giving ventriloquistic effect in others. This question seems never to have been enquired into before, and I throw out the hint in hopes that others may help to elucidate the matter with their investigations.”
The length of the Common Hoopoe is about one foot; the upper surface is greyish-brown, the wings and shoulders black barred with white, the rump being pure white; on the head, which is tawny-coloured, is an enormous crest, the feathers of which have a black tip, before which is a narrow white bar; the tail is black; with a white band at about a third of its length from the end; underneath the body is pale cinnamon, white on the abdomen and under tail coverts, the flanks striped with brown. The sexes are alike in colour, excepting that the female is a little paler.
THE WOOD HOOPOES (Irrisor).
All the birds belonging to this section of the Hoopoes are remarkable for their very long and strongly graduated tails, for their brilliant metallic plumage, which is always dark, and inclining more or less to black—instead of a sandy colour, as in the true Hoopoes—and most of them for their very curved, scimitar-like bills. They are all natives of Africa, and have a remarkably loud, chattering note; and from its harsh and resounding voice the Red-billed Wood Hoopoe (I. erythrorhynchus) is known among the Dutch at the Cape as “Cackala,” or the “Chatterer.” The late M. Jules Verreaux told the writer that the noise made by these birds is tremendous, and that on one occasion he was attracted by an uproar, which seemed to indicate that something unusual was the matter. On proceeding to the place whence the noise came, he was astonished to find on the low branch of a tree three of these birds, perched one on the back of the other, betokening by their drooping wings and repeated chatterings the utmost consternation and fright. The cause of this was not far to seek, for just below the birds was a cobra, balancing himself in an erect attitude, and perfectly motionless, the only indication of life being the incessant flicking of the animal’s tongue. The cacklings of the birds became feebler and feebler, until at last the bottom one fell off the perch and dropped into the extended jaws of the snake, which were ready to receive it; while the other two birds, apparently freed from the spell of the reptile’s eye, took to instant flight. Having his gun in his hand, M. Verreaux shot the snake immediately; but on going to rescue the bird, found that the latter was quite dead. Mr. Thomas Ayres, who has studied the species in Natal, says:—“The food of these birds consists almost entirely of a species of cockroach, which they take from the crevices of rough-barked trees, and in search of which they creep about the trunk and branches somewhat similarly to the Woodpeckers. In this manner their tail-feathers frequently become much worn. From four to eight of these birds are generally together, and frequent busby country. They have a loud chattering note, and are extremely restless in their habits. They have a peculiarly powerful and disagreeable smell.” Mr. Andersson’s account of the species is as follows:—“It lives in small flocks—probably consisting of entire families—which frequent trees, chiefly of the larger kinds, and examine them most assiduously in search of insects and their larvæ, which they extract from crevices in the wood and from beneath the bark. These birds climb like Woodpeckers; and their long tails come into constant contact with the rough surface of the trees, by which the tail-feathers are much injured. When they have finished their examination of one tree they move to the next convenient one, but not all together, as a short interval generally elapses after the departure of each individual. The moment flight is decided on, they utter harsh discordant cries or chatterings, which are continued until they are all safely lodged in their new quarters. These harsh notes are also heard when they conceive themselves in danger from either man, beast, or bird; and they thus often betray their presence.”
The present species measures about seventeen inches, the tail being about ten out of that number, and being thus three inches longer than the body of the bird. The colour is black, glossed with green on the head, back, and under surface, with blue on the throat, purple on the wings and tail,and having a bronzy gloss on the shoulders. All the tail feathers, except the two centre ones, have a white spot near the tip and across the wings a white bar. The bill and legs are bright coral red.