Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
HOOPOE.
An occasional visitor to the British Isles.
Beside the European Hoopoe, which also extends into Northern Africa, four other species are known, three of which are African, whilst a fourth ranges from India to Hainan.
Nearly related to the birds we have just described are the Wood-Hoopoes. They differ from their allies in being crestless, having a more curved bill, and a plumage of metallic purple, with a white patch on the wings and white markings on the tail. Their habits resemble those of their more highly coloured relatives.
CHAPTER XIII.
BEE-EATERS, MOTMOTS, TODIES, COLIES, AND TROGONS.
In the present chapter we deal with a number of birds of singular beauty and gracefulness. In their coloration green predominates, thus recalling the Rollers, Parrots, Plantain-eaters, and Kingfishers, all of which groups, as we have seen, contain a large proportion of green species.
The Bee-eaters, like the Kingfishers, Hornbills, and Hoopoes, have a foot of quite peculiar structure, the middle and outer toes being joined together throughout the greater part of their length. They are an Old World group, ranging from the British Islands to Australia, in the American Continent their place being taken by the Motmots and Jacamars, of which we shall speak presently. They are especially plentiful in the African region, somewhat less so in the Indian, the temperate regions of the Old World possessing but few species.