158 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
THE STATUS OF THE HOOPOE OVER A PERIOD OF
A HUNDRED YEARS (1839 to 1938).
By WILLIAM E. GLEGG, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
[Read 27th November, 1943.]
THE attention of the present writer was drawn to the fluctua-
ting nature of the appearances of the Hoopoe, Upupa
epops epops L., about sixteen years ago, by reason of the re-
duction of the number of visits of this species to the county
of Essex. In this county from 1821, the year of the first dated
occurrence, to 1890—a period of sixty-nine years—forty-eight
were recorded, while from the latter year to 1928—a period of
thirty-eight years—only eight were observed. Mr. R. Briton
Riviere, in his, "History of the Birds of Norfolk," published
in 1930, refers to the decreased number of occurrences in this
County. In 1932, Dr. C. B. Ticehurst, in his "History of
the Birds of Suffolk," illustrated the reduction of the visits of
this species by giving the numbers for periods of ten years each.
From 1851-1860, in which period forty-three were recorded,
the number grew less in each subsequent decade, until 1910-
1920, when only one was noted, but in the incomplete period
of 1921-1928, the number rose to three. This information led
me to undertake an enquiry into the status of the Hoopoe in
Great Britain and Ireland. The only way to accomplish this
was to make an exhaustive search of the literature, which en-
tailed the examination of some hundreds of volumes. The
data accumulated were the year and month of arrival, and the
county as locality. It was found that a grand total of 1,328
appearances—each Hoopoe, constituting an appearance—had
been collected. Of this total, England and Wales, which are
treated as one area, claim 85.7 per cent., Scotland 10.2 per
cent., and Ireland 4.1 per cent. The first set of figures pre-
pared was the number of appearances for each of the hundred
years, separate lists being made for each of the three countries.
With a view to ascertaining if local changes had occurred,
England and Wales were divided into four districts, namely,
South coast counties, composed of Cornwall (including Scilly
Isles), Devon, Dorset, Hampshire (including Isle of Wight),
Sussex and Kent ; East Anglia, composed of Essex, Suffolk
and Norfolk ; North-east coast counties, composed of Lin-
colnshire, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland ; and
Rest of English and Welsh counties, composed of all counties
not mentioned in above three lists ; and the number of ap-
pearances for each of the twenty periods of five years for each
of the four districts—that is in all eighty totals—was calculated.
Further series of figures were necessary to consider how the