(PLATE 1.)
_Huppes ou Callendres_, Voyages du Sieur D.B. (Dubois) aux Iles
Dauphine ou Madagascar, et Bourbon ou Mascarenne, etc., p. 172
(1674--Bourbon).
_Huppe du Cap de Bonne Espérance_ Daubenton, Pl. Enl. 697.
_Huppe noire et blanche du Cap de Bonne Espérance_ Montbeillard, Hist.
Nat. Ois. VI, p. 463 (1779).
_Madagascar Hoopoe_ Latham, Gen. Syn. B. II pt. I, p. 690 (1783).
_Upupa varia_ Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 43 (1783--ex Daubenton).
_Upupa capensis_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 466 (1788--ex Montbeillard).
_La Huppe grise_ Audebert et Vieillot, Ois. Dor., "Promerops" p. 15 pl.
III (1802).
_Le Mérops huppé_ Levaillant, Hist. Nat. Promérops, etc., p. 43, pl. 18
(1806).
_Upupa madagascariensis_ Shaw, Gen. Zool. VIII, pt. I, p. 140 (1812).
_Coracia cristata_ Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. VIII, p. 3
(1817).
_Pastor upupa_ Wagler, Syst. Avium, Pastor, sp. 13 (1827).
_Fregilupus borbonicus_ Vinson, Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat 1868, p. 627.
_Fregilupus varius_ Hartlaub, Vög. Madagasc. p. 203 (1877); Sharpe,
Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XIII p. 194 (1890); Milne-Edwards & Oustalet,
Centenaire Mus. Hist. Nat., p. 205, pl. II (1893).
As long ago as 1674 a note about the "Huppe" exists, by "Le Sieur D.B.,"
_i.e._, Dubois. He says, when describing the birds of Réunion (translated):
"Hoopoes or 'Callendres,' having a white tuft on the head, the rest of the
plumage white and grey, the bill and the feet like a bird of prey; they are
a little larger than the young pigeons; this is another good game (_i.e._,
to eat) when it is fat."
This description has generally been accepted as referring to the
_Fregilupus_, though that of the bill and feet is then due to an error of
the author, for _Fregilupus_ has the bill and feet of a member of the
_Sturnidae_ or family of Starlings.
Good descriptions and representations of the "Huppe" have been given in
many places (see literature), but whether they were taken from males or
females is generally not known. The sexes seem to be alike in colour, but
the female is smaller, and has a shorter and straighter bill than the male.
At least, this is the conclusion of Dr. Hartert, who saw the four examples
in the museum at Troyes. As far as he could see through the glass all four
{4} seemed to be adult birds, but two were larger with longer and more
curved bills, two smaller and with shorter and straighter beaks, so that
they are evidently two pairs.
This bird seems to have become extirpated about the middle of the last
century. The late Monsieur Pollen wrote in 1868 (translated): "This species
has become so rare that one did not hear them mentioned for a dozen years.
It has been destroyed in all the littoral districts, and even in the
mountains near the coast. Trustworthy persons, however, have assured us
that they must still exist in the forests of the interior, near St. Joseph.
The old creoles told me that, in their youth, these birds were still
common, and that they were so stupid that one could kill them with sticks.
They call this bird the "Hoopoe." It is, therefore, not wrong what a
distinguished inhabitant of Réunion, Mr. A. Legras, wrote about this bird
with the following words: "The Hoopoe has become so rare that we have
hardly seen a dozen in our wanderings to discover birds; we were even
grieved to search for it in vain in our museum."
We are certain that _Fregilupus_ existed still on Réunion in 1835, as
Monsieur Desjardins, living on Mauritius, wrote in a manuscript formerly
belonging to the late Professor Milne-Edwards: "My friend, Marcelin
Sauzier, has sent me four alive from Bourbon in May, 1835. They eat
everything. Two have escaped some months afterwards, and it might well
happen that they will stock our forests."
It seems, indeed, that specimens were killed in 1837 on Mauritius, where
they did not originally exist. Verreaux shot an example in Réunion in 1832.
The names "La Huppe du Cap" and "_Upupa madagascariensis_" arose out of the
mistaken notions that this bird lived in South Africa or Madagascar, but we
know now that its real home was Réunion or Bourbon.