MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 715 



and shock whcii the owner is battering away at pine cones, hard walnuts and 

 other nuts. The inference, therefore, is that the structure of the eye of the 

 nutcracker is a fair indication of its feeding habits, as regards nut-cracking, 

 nut-piercing and walnut-boring, and even possibly tree-boring, for I have seen it 

 on decaying pine trunks evidently searching for grubs and insects. 



I have written these notes, not in a spirit of controversy, but simply to 

 elucidate a doubted point in natural history, and to furnish, upon this very 

 same point, information which appears to me to be sufficiently clear and 

 reliable. 



W. OSBORN, Lt.-Genebal, 

 Osuorn House, Naggar Kullu, Kangra District, 

 Punjab, Uth Match, 1904. 



No. IX.— NESTING OF THE HORNBILLS. 



It is well known that the hornbills build their nests in hollows and holes, 

 high up in forest trees, and that the male bird, when the hen is ready to sit, 

 walls her up, and completely conceals her and her nest by plastering up the 

 orifice of the hole with clay or mud, leaving only a small opening for her bill to 

 protrude. He brings food for her daily, and she remains thus imprisoned till 

 the young birds are ready to leave the nest. The reason for this curious 

 habit has always been a mystery, to which, however, I think I have obtained 

 a clue. 



I ascertained some time ago, when a nest of the common grey hornbill 

 (_Menicefos bicomis) was discovered, that during the period of incubation and 

 subsequent care of her young, the hen bird, while walled into her nest, as above 

 described, had moulted the whole of the quill feathers of her wings and tail. 



Now if it is the habit of the females of all of the hornbills to moult in this 

 fashion during the time of nidification, it is evident that the bird, unable to fly. 

 or in any way to retreat from her enemies, must become the prey of any 

 marauding predatory bird or beast which happened to discover her. This, it 

 strikes me, must be the reason why the hen hornbill is thus protected and con- 

 cealed by the male bird (which probably moults irregularly) while she is 

 incubating and bringing up her young brood. 



The habit of moulting all of the quill feathers at one and the same time is 

 common to some of the ducks, notably "The Spot Bill" (Anas pcEciloryncha), 

 and, I have heard, to some of the Australian swans. But this peculiar moult in 

 the case of the hornbills, from the one instance that has come under my notice, 

 appears to be confined to the female bird alone, and, under the circumstances 

 described, the motive and necessity of the clever concealment of the nest 

 become apparent. 



I should like to see some more information on this matter of the female 

 hornbill moulting as I have described. The habit must be common to all of the 

 numerous family of the hornbills, else why should their nests be so peculiarly 

 and ingeniously hidden ? 



