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through the hole and received four or five pellets 

 about the vsize of a small hen's egg, but longer. These 

 pellets, I afterwards discovered, were enveloped in a 

 sort of elastic skin, and contained chopped-up leaves 

 and small shoots, mixed with fruits and various seeds. 

 When the young bird was ready for us to take, we 

 went to open the hole, and one of the men having 

 gone on before, shot the male bird and proceeded to 

 climb the ladder and break away the wall at the 

 entrance to the nest. The tree, however, was hollow, 

 and the hen bird fluttered upward out of his reach. 

 Finding he could not catch her, he left the young one 

 in the nest to prevent the mother from leaving, as he 

 had made the hole by this time quite large enough for 

 her to escape ; he then came down, and we returned 

 to the hut to devise a plan t''or securing the old bird. 

 The Dyak, who had done this work before, soon made 

 a kind of basket by splitting up the end of a bamboo 

 for about a foot in several strips, and then tying a ring 

 inside to keep them open in a cup-shape. We then 

 returned to the tree, and to our surprise found several 

 more Hornbills, some feeding the birds in the hole, 

 and others flying round, and constantl}^ settling near 

 the spot. The Dyak then went up the tree by his 

 ladder and quickly captured the hen bird in his in- 

 genious basket, without injuring her; and we brought 

 her home with her young one, which made an extra- 

 ordinar}^ monotonous noise, and appeared to be con- 

 tinually hungry, though seeming to be well fed. The 

 nestling afterwards became quite tame, and lived for 

 months, flying about my garden, sometimes taking 

 possession of the back of a chair whilst I was at 

 meals, when he would catch pieces of bread thrown to 



