406 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



captivity, while tlie casque had even then appeared only to 

 a slight extent. Evidently the eggs are laid at intervals ; 

 one of the three older birds was itself much more advanced 

 than its companions and was already quite at home amongst 

 the perches in the aviary in the middle of February, while 

 the other two, even in March, could not rise unassisted 

 even to the lowest, though they made ludicrous attempts 

 to do so. On the ground they are clumsy, sprawling 

 creatures, usually resting flat on the tarsi with the tail held 

 up perpendicularly. Odendaal drew my attention to the 

 curiously raised appearance of the skin of the back of the 

 youngest, which might be compared to an extensive low 

 blister. A trace of this condition was still apparent in 

 the larger birds, and was more so, he informed me, when he 

 first took them. It disappeared rapidly with their growth. 



I have noted this bird in the Inyamadzi Valley and, 

 on September 17th, found several feeding on the ripe 

 '^Mutowe-towe^' figs in the Inyanikuwha forest-patch in 

 the Chikamboge Valley. Dierking informed me that a 

 solitary individual of this species had frequented his orchard 

 near Maruraa, during August and September, for about a 

 month, being there daily and allowing an approach to within 

 ten or fifteen yards. It fed chiefly on his papaws — with 

 his full permission ! I noted quite a number about the 

 Mamma forest-patch in the same month. In the low veld 

 I found these Hornbills on the Mwangezi River, and in 

 dense bush near Boka and Chibabava in December and 

 January. In the adult bird the bill, casque, and feet are 

 dark grey, the bare skin round the eye is rosy carmine, and 

 the irides are dark red. In the young bird the bill is dark 

 leaden grey, the feet are blackish, and the irides dark brown. 

 A stomach contained a large metallic beetle and a number 

 of smallish fruits. This Hornbill does not appear to associate 

 with B. cristatus, unless when attracted to the same tree by 

 a ripe crop of fruit, and I only once found it making the 

 pilgrimage to the Inyamadzi and back, which was indulged 

 in daily by the other species. This was on August 2yth, 

 when two parties, one of nine, the other of forty-eight 



