of India and Burmah. 179 



his arm ; but was so soundly bitten by the female, whose cries 

 had become perfectly desperate, that he quickly withdrew, nar- 

 rowly escaping a tumble from his frail footing. After wrapping 

 his hand in some folds of cloth, he succeeded with some trouble 

 in extracting the bird, a miserable-looking object enough, wasted 

 and dirty. She was handed down and let loose on the ground, 

 where she hopped about, unable to fly, and menacing the by- 

 standers with her bill ; and at length ascended a small tree, where 

 she remained, being too stifi" to use her wings and join her mate. 

 At the bottom of the hole, nearly 3 feet from the orifice, was a 

 solitaiy egg, resting upon mud, fragments of bark, and feathers. 

 It was of a dirty yellowish brownish-white, spindle-shaped or 

 pointed at either end, and of a coarse surface, indented with 

 numerous pores. Longitudinal and transverse axes 2|-^" and 

 \y respectively. In the hole were numerous berries, resembling 

 the wild 'jamoon,^ in all stages of decomposition. The female, 

 I should remark, was deeply stained with a yellow exudation 

 from the uropygial gland, frequently observed on the feathers of 

 this species, B. [Hydrocissa) pica, and B. albirustris." 



3. BucEROs (Hydrocissa) pica. 



4. BucERos (Hydrocissa) albirostris. 



These two nearly allied species inhabit the forests respectively 

 of India and of British Burmah. The second-named is the 

 more numerous of the two, as far as my own observations 

 lead me to judge. I have met with B. pica in the forests 

 of the jungle mahals, Midnapore, Singbhoom, and Chota 

 Nagpoor; but it is by no means common. B. albirostris, on 

 the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, is much more frequent. 

 The manners of the two species are so much alike, that they 

 hardly need separate description ; with B. albirostris, however, 

 I am now familiarly acquainted, having had two or three of 

 them tame, in confinement and at large; for this bird be- 

 comes so soon domesticated as not to require imprisonment, 

 if it be brought to the house from the nest. It remains 

 perched on a verandah-rail, soon becoming accustomed to the in- 

 mates, and readily takes food from the hand. One or two pet 

 ones are to be seen in almost every village in Arakan. Those 



