“The wall-climber, or scaler, makes its way up the perpendicular faces of rocks, ramparts, and old walls, prying out all the various insects and their eggs that may be lurking in the fissures. With its large claws it clings to these vertical surfaces and does not use its tail as a support. This bird, which is of about the size of a lark, has unusually beautiful plumage of a light ash color, with touches of bright red, black, and pure white on the wings. The throat is black, and so is the tail, the latter being edged with white at the tip. The richness of its coloring and the habit it has of remaining stationary in its flight before the rock or other surface it is exploring, just as butterflies hold themselves motionless on their wings while they suck the honey of flowers with their trumpet, have given it the expressive name of butterfly of the rocks. It inhabits the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Jura Mountains. In winter it visits old buildings in our towns. “The hoopoe is especially remarkable for its double row of long red feathers edged with black and white, which, at the bird’s pleasure, are made to lie down toward the back or stand upright on the head and spread out as a handsome crest. The rest of the plumage is wine-colored, except the tail and wings, which are black. The wings are also ornamented with white stripes running across them. “In size this bird is about as large as a turtle-dove. It lives alone and prefers to remain on the ground usually, rarely perching unless on the lower branches of trees. Its favorite haunts are moist fields, which it walks over at a sedate pace, every now and then erecting its beautiful crest either from satisfaction at having found a savory mouthful or because of being startled by something, for it is a very timid 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. This nest, so deep and so hard to keep clean, ought to be cleared out daily, but the parent bird does nothing about it, leaving the filth to accumulate until it forms a rampart all around the nest. This barricade may serve as an excellent defense against the birdnest-hunter, who would naturally hesitate to thrust his hand into the foul mess; and so I will not censure the bird too severely for its poor housekeeping. “The hoopoe is with us only in summer. Toward the first of September it crosses the Mediterranean to pass the winter under the warmer skies of Africa.” CHAPTER XXV THE CUCKOO