THE NUTHATCH.

the common hazel-nut, is a work of some labour, but it strikes a filbert with ease.

Whilst at work it

makes a rapping noise, which may be heard at some distance. In default of nuts and seeds, this bird searches for insects and their larvæ among moss or old trees, or walls, thatch, &c. In winter it picks the larvae of beetles from under the bark of trees, and has recourse to the magazine of nuts, and the seeds of sun-flower.

In concluding our exposition of the tenuirostral tribes, we now approach the Hoopoes, in close approximation to which is placed the genus Fregilus of Cuvier, containing the Corvus graculus, or redlegged crow of British writers. It is, in truth, so nearly allied to the Alpine crow (C. pyrrhocorax), or choucard des Alpes, both in structure and habits, and is so often seen in company with that species, that wherever the one may be placed, the other should not be far distant. M. Temminck, indeed, places them in the same genus, although the bill of the red-legged bird, or Cornish chough, is longer than the head, more subulate, and slender at the point, and without any notch. Cuvier regards the Corvus affinis of Latham, and

another species from New Holland, as both belonging to the genus Fregilus.

The arched crest upon head is formed by two parallel rows of long feathers, of a ruddy buff colour, terminated with black. The female is less than the male, her crest shorter, and the tints of her plumage less vivid. The only European species (U. epops.-Linn.) is a summer bird of passage on the

THE HOOPOE.

continent, where it travels northward as far as Sweden. It never breeds in Britain, though it sometimes accidentally occurs there. One was sent to London a few years ago from the county of Fife. This bird is called bubbola by the Italians, most likely from its peculiar cry. It keeps itself concealed among the trees; but is constantly heard repeating the syllable bu, bu, bu, bu, bu, with such Its song, properly so called, is only a strong, sonorous voice, that it may be heard at a great distance. uttered during the honeymoon. Although the hoopoe lives and builds in woods, it may be often seen in search of insect food, in fields and pastures. The nest is generally placed either in the natural hollow of a tree, or in the deserted excavation of a woodpecker. It is composed outwardly of feathers, and is lined with the hair of cows and horses. The eggs are grayish-white, finely spotted with brown. This bird is very common in Egypt. A nearly allied species (U. Capensis) is found at the Cape, and

* Upupa epops.

† Εποψ.

occurs also in the East Indies; but we presume M. Savi is in error when he says the genus is likewise known in America. In this bird the frontal plumes are developed very remarkably; its plumage is white, with a grey tinge.

White remarks, in his "Natural History of Selborne:" "The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair of hoopoes, which came several years ago in the summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my garden, for several weeks. They used to march about in a stately manner, feeding on the walks, many times in the day, and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet, but were frightened and persecuted by idle boys, who would never let them be at rest."

THE CAPE HOOPOE.

Mr. Bartlett, a preserver of birds, in Museum-street, London, had a hoopoe. It was quite tame, and, when unexcited, the high crest fell over the top of the head and covered the occiput; it took a meal-worm from the hand very readily, nibbled and pinched it between the ends of the mandibles,

THE CAPE PROMEROPS.

then put it on the ground, and struck it several blows with the point of its beak; when the insect was apparently disabled or dead it was again taken up, and, by a particular motion of the head, which was thrown backwards, and the beak being opened, the meal-worm dropped into the gape of the mouth and was swallowed. The call for another was a sharp note; but the hoopoe also uttered at times a sound closely resembling the word hoop, hoop, hoop, yet breathed out so softly and rapidly as to remind the hearer of the note of the dove. This bird constantly rubbed itself in the sand with which the bottom of its large cage was supplied, dusting itself like the larks, but taking great care to shake off any sand or gravel that might adhere to its food, which was raw meat chopped and boiled eggs.

At the moment of settling on the floor of the room, this bird bent its head downwards till the point of the beak touched the floor, after which, as well as occasionally at other times, the long feathers forming the crest were alternately elevated and depressed in a slow and graceful manner, the bird assuming an appearance of great vivacity, running on the ground with a very quick step.

One genus has also an elongated, slender bill, finely pointed, laterally compressed, somewhat convex above, with the nostrils open and cleft longitudinally. The tail is very long and graduated, and the tongue is extensile and bifurcated, so that the species are enabled to absorb the nectarous juices of flowers. The title seems now restricted to the African species, of which the only one distinctly known is the Cape promerops,t of a grayish-brown above, with a white throat, bordered by two dark lines, the breast reddish, the abdomen yellow. The tail is of great length during the completed plumage; but the long, ribbon-like feathers are often absent, which greatly alters the external characters of the bird.

Another genust was found by Mr. Gould in New Zealand, abounding on the hills around Port Nicholson, and indigenous to the island. They subsist on insects and fruits, and are exceedingly familiar, approaching so closely to strangers as to be readily captured or killed. We give an engraving of one of the species.§

Promerops: Brisson.

+ Promerops Capensis, Merops Caffir: Gmelin.

§ Neomorpha Gouldii,

+ Neomorpha.

THIS Order may be pronounced somewhat heterogeneous, and considerable time will yet most probably elapse before an arrangement will be made of strictly allied groups. The great majority of the species of which it is composed, however, have two toes before and two behind; that is, one of the three anterior toes, commonly so called, is either reversible at pleasure or is permanently thrown backwards, so as to give

FOOT OF PARRAKEET.

great power and tenacity of grasp during their infinitely varied movements over the rugged bark or smoother branches of the forest trees on which they chiefly dwell. By this peculiar structure many species are enabled not only to ascend with ease a perpendicular bank, but to suspend themselves from the lower surface of a branch while searching for their favourite food, which consists of fruits or insects, according to the form of the bill, so greatly diversified in the present order. In the parrot tribe the foot is also used in the conveyance of food to the mouth, and, generally, as a very perfect prehensile organ.

The birds of this order generally build in holes of trees; their power of flight is not considerable; their food, like that of birds in the preceding order, consists of insects and fruits, accordingly as their bill is more or less strong. Some, as the woodpeckers, have peculiar means of obtaining food.

THE JACAMARS.+

THESE birds are nearly allied to the kingfishers in certain respects, as in their elongated, sharp, quadrangular bill, and in their short feet, whose anterior toes are, for the most part, united. But these toes have not exactly the same formation as in the kingfishers; the plumage is not so smooth as that of those birds, and has always a metallic lustre. They live solitarily in humid woods, feed on insects, and build their nests on low branches.

The American species have the bill larger than the others, and quite straight.

THE CUCKOOS.

In one genus were originally placed a number of different insectivorous birds, commonly called cuckoos, which agreed in the general form of the feet, the lengthened tail, the bill of medium size,

*Scansores. Żygodactyli, or, Yoke-footed.

+ Galbula: Bress.

Cuculus: Linn@us.

rather deeply cleft, somewhat compressed and slightly curved. But they have since been formed into numerous minor groups, the most marked and conspicuous of which we shall here briefly

notice.

The true cuckoos have the bill of moderate strength, the tarsi short, and the tail of ten feathers. As an example, we name our British species, C. canorus, so remarkable for its singular and somewhat anomalous habit of depositing its eggs in the nests of other birds, a fact now well known, but to which we shall briefly refer. The nest of the hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis) is that most usually chosen in the south of England; that of the yellow-ammer, the wagtail, and the meadow titlark being, however, likewise devoted to the purpose. "In Northumberland," says Mr. Selby, "constant experience tells me, that the nest of the last-mentioned bird is the one almost always chosen. Taking advantage of the absence of its dupe during the time of laying (which generally occupies four or five days), the cuckoo deposits its egg among the rest, abandoning it from that moment to the care of the foster-parent. As the same period of incubation is common to both birds, the eggs are hatched nearly together, which no sooner takes place than the young cuckoo proceeds instinctively to eject its young companions, and any remaining eggs, from the nest. To effect this object, it contrives to work itself under its burden (the back at this early age being provided with a peculiar depression between the shoulders), and shuffling backwards to the edge of the nest, by a jerk rids itself of the incumbrance; and this operation is repeated till, the whole being thrown over, it remains sole possessor. This particular tendency remains for about twelve days, after which the hollow place between the shoulders is filled up; and when prevented from accomplishing its purpose till the expiration of that time, as if conscious of inability, it suffers its companions to remain unmolested."

THE CUCKOO.

Various supposed reasons have been assigned for this anomalous, and we might almost say unnatural instinct. Some have attributed it to the displacement of certain viscera (the gizzard is said to be situate further back than in most other birds), which unfits the cuckoos for the purpose of incubation, while others imagine that the early period at which they migrate from this country (they are generally off by the beginning of July) makes it necessary that they should leave their offspring to the care of foster-parents. But anatomical investigation has not proved anything sufficiently peculiar in their structure to warrant the first conclusion; and as to the second, it seems to us not so much a deduction from a regulating and causative fact in their history, as the statement of an additional circumstance which renders that history still more singular, and which naturally leads to the question not easily answered, of why do they migrate so early? In short, we know nothing at all about the matter, further than that the cuckoo of Europe, like the cow-bunting of America,t always lays eggs, but never hatches them. It may be a practice common to several species, but the rare black and white spotted cuckoo, an odd name for an African bird which happened once upon a time to visit Tuscany, is stated by the authors of the Storiadegli Uccelli to have built a nest in the woods of Pisa, and reared four young ones. This species is extremely rare in Europe. It is known, however, in the Genoese

* Cuculus: Cuvier.

+ See page 150.