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FREGILUPUSLESSON.
Huge crest, bill long and curved. One species, extinct.
FREGILUPUS VARIA(BODD.)
(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
