250 



Zbc Hfrtcau Black Ibornbill. 



{Sphagolobiis atratus). 

 By C. CAS'i%K-Sr.OANK, F.Z.S. 



With reo^ard to the phimage of this bird : — it is all 

 black with a greeny sheen all over it in the sunlight, 

 the tips of the tail feathers are white, there is a niauvey 

 blue skin round the eye, and the eyelashes are very long. 



My specimen had been in the Zoological Gardens 

 for the previous five months or so, where no doubt some 

 of my readers may have seen it. Whilst there it must 

 have been petted all day, and fed by hand, judging 

 from the cries with which it meets one when entering 

 the aviary ; it has two distinct cries, one for when it 

 wants something especially dainty in the sliape of 

 grapes or banana, and the other for merely personal 

 notice. 



I shall not forget when I first fed my bird with an 

 apple, which I broke in pieces and gave in a dish. I 

 should think it took but a second to demolish it, and 

 then finished another one in like fashion, as soon as I 

 had got it ready. I thought to myself "how on earth 

 am I to provide sufficient bananas, grapes, and apples 

 for you," and I felt he would truly be ni}^ bird with the 

 big bill, so I mixed up dried files, ants' eggs, and 

 biscuit with a little potato, in the hope of weaning it 

 from its expensive tastes, and was very glad to find it 

 took to the little cannon balls of mixture I made for 

 it. When it gets weary itself of tossing great lumps 

 down its throat, it opens its great bill for you to con- 

 tinue the operation, uttering at the same time short 

 little croaks. This bird never wearies of being petted. 

 It is quite content so long as one is talking to it, 

 stroking it, or playing about with it, and it will throw 



