CLIMBERS—THE HOOPOE
“I have been telling you about woodpeckers and the nuthatch,
insect-eaters with chisel-shaped beaks for cutting into trees and
getting out the worms hidden in the wood. Then I spoke of the wryneck,
which does not use its beak for hacking old tree trunks, but can, like
the woodpecker, stick out its tongue on the ants’ path and catch the
insects with the glue of its saliva. Now we come to some more
insect-eaters, but their work is less laborious than that of the
woodpecker. They do not hack and hew tree trunks, but merely seek their
prey in the cracks and crannies that serve as its refuge. For this kind
of hunting they have a long and slender beak that curves slightly
downward.
“As their name implies, climbers show great agility in climbing. Their
beak is very narrow, the better to penetrate the cracks in the bark of
trees, and it is bent like an arch and has a fine point. Their feet
have three talons pointing forward and one, much stronger, pointing
backward. We have in France two climbers, one of which is furnished
with a tail composed of a few long, stiff feathers that serve as a
support to the bird in climbing, as the woodpecker’s tail serves that
bird, while the other is not thus equipped.
“The so-called common climber is a tiny bird with whitish plumage
spotted with brown above and tinged with red on the rump and tail. Its
life is a most laborious one. It frequents woods, orchards, and the
trees of our public promenades, where you may see it always busily
engaged in examining every square inch of the surface of tree trunks in
order to thrust its slender beak into the cracks of the bark and catch
any lurking gnats, bugs, caterpillars, or cocoons. It runs down the
trunk as fast as it runs up, which woodpeckers cannot do, their
progress always being upward, either in a straight line or spirally. It
ascends in little leaps and bounds, and helps itself along by propping
its tail against the tree. Arrived at the top of the trunk, it descends
quickly and begins the same operations on the next tree. At every step
it cheers itself up with its sharp, flute-like cry. At nightfall it
retires into some hole in a tree trunk. There, too, it makes its nest,
which is formed of fine grasses and bits of moss held together by
threads from spiders’ webs. Its eggs, from five to seven in number, are
pure white with red spots.
“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.”