in the Order Strepitores. 591 



itself; in the young, when first hatched, no indication of it is 

 visible ; and in numerous species it fails to attain a conspi- 

 cuous magnitude at any age; excepting in one species, where- 

 in it acquires a medium size, and is quite solid, and conse- 

 quently very weighty, the internal structure of this prodigious 

 excrescence is extremely slight and reticulate, or in other 

 words hollow, and permeated by a fragile network of osseous 

 fibres, similar to what pervade the huge bills of the toucans :* 

 its purport has not hitherto been ascertained ; but, that it has 

 a use, would seem to be intimated by the presence of stout 

 eye-lashes, as if to protect the eyes from falling particles dis- 

 engaged by its agency in some particular employment. Now, 

 it may be remarked that eye-lashes are not of common occur- 

 rence in the class of birds ;f and the only additional Strepi- 

 tores which possess them are certain Cuculidce, one genus of 

 which, that of the ani (Crotophaga), presents likewise a ros- 

 tral protuberance, very similar to that of several of the small- 

 er hornbills. Observation alone will probably detect the pre- 

 cise object to which this structure is especially subservient: 

 and it will require somewhat nice and acute discrimination to 

 discover the intent of the various modifications of form which 

 the protuberance undergoes in different species. 



It would be needless to describe further the outward con- 

 formation of these remarkable birds, with which every reader 

 is doubtless familiar. Their digestive organs are not widely 

 different from those of the toucans ; and probably resemble a 

 good deal those of the Serratirostres, or motmots : there being 

 a large gall-bladder present, which receptacle does not exist 

 in the toucan family. " The tongue," remarks Mr. Owen, " is 

 extremely short, of a triangular form, and smooth : and the 

 oesophagus, as in the toucans, is very wide, and of nearly 

 equal diameter as far as the gizzard. The gizzard is thicker 

 in its coats, and of a more elongated form, than in the toucan ; 

 its cuticular lining is very tough, and disposed in longitudi- 

 nal ridges. There are no coeca : and the intestines are ar- 

 ranged in long and narrow loops, as in the raven." Mr. 

 Owen further states that "the individual" (one of the common 

 Indian Buceros clavatus) " was observed to be more attached 

 to animal than vegetable food, and would quit any other sub- 



* Beautiful sections of the hills of hoth the hornhills and toucans may 

 he seen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and also in that 

 of comparative anatomy at Guy's Hospital. 



f They are, in all cases, simply harhless feathers, which are developed 

 and annually moulted like other feathers ; and the same holds true of the 

 notorial and other vibrissa of hirds, as may he readily seen on examining 

 their condition in a nestling. 



3 m3 



