168 BIRDS 



This seems very curious, and I should like a practised 

 ornithologist to confirm or contradict the statement. 



Other members of the sub -order now being considered 

 are the Hornbills, one of which {Bycanistes subcylindricus) 

 is one of the most characteristic birds of the Uganda 

 forests, and abounds on the islands. This great black 

 and white bird with its curious bill is known to the natives 

 as " E'nga-nga," from its nasal, raucous cry. It is a noisy 

 and conspicuous creature, clumsy and grotesque in its 

 habits, and is perceived both by ear and eye from a 

 considerable distance away. The flight is heavy, and the 

 beating of the wings for a few strokes is followed by a 

 pause during which the bird sails through the air with 

 wings outspread, making a loud roaring noise presumably 

 owing to the arrangement of the feathers. When an 

 " E'nga-nga " flies past, I am always reminded of the noise 

 made by a puffing locomotive as one hears it coming 

 from a distance, the noise rising in pitch and getting louder 

 as the engine approaches, falling and dying away as it 

 disappears in the distance. The bird also frequently 

 screams while flying, as if to let all the world know where 

 it is. 



I believe that there is an explanation of this noisy 

 flight as aposematic — the conspicuous bird makes itself 

 perceived by ear as well as eye in order that enemies may 

 recognize it. It is of interest that Dr. G. A. K. Marshall 

 records that the flesh of an allied species was found dis- 

 tasteful by a mongoose, and that natives look on it as so 

 poisonous that it will render water unfit for drinking if 

 the carcase falls into a stream. ^ The subject of aposematic 

 flight will be brought up again in the chapter on 

 the Hymenoptera in connection with the fossorial Pom- 

 pilidae. 



Foolish looking as is the " E'nga-nga," it is surpassed 

 in that respect by a more slenderly built smaller species, 



1 Proc. Ent. Soc. Lorid., 1902, pp. 378-9. 



