Birds of Gazaland. 407 



birds, passed over on their way thither about an hour before 

 sunset. All were B. buccinator , at once distinguishable by 

 their conspicuous white abdomens, and they uttered one of 

 their plaintive calls continually as they flew. 



183. Bycanistes cristatus (Riipp.). Zambesi Trumpeter. 



Rh. On November 3rd, 1906, I slightly winged a female 

 of this species, which subsequently lived for some time in my 

 aviary. When captured she bit savagely and indulged in the 

 most ludicrous braying, which was kept up for quite long at 

 a time and answered by her friends in the trees. It was 

 evident that she had recently been sitting, as she had moulted 

 and was only just getting a new crop of feathers. On the 

 ground she was very clumsy, usually sitting flat on the tarsi 

 and even moving about in that position with her tail trailing 

 along the ground. She soon became fairly tame, but was an 

 exceedingly clumsy feeder. When a large fig was thrown 

 down she would pick it up with the point of her bill and 

 keep pressing and turning it, though never exerting much 

 force, until it was fairly soft. At last it would split and be 

 finally formed into a long mass, which she would throw up 

 into the air, catching it in the trough of her lower bill and 

 trying to manoeuvre it down her throat by throwing her head 

 first to one side and then to the other. The fig would either 

 slip down a little at each jerk or, as often as not, fall out 

 altogether, when she would commence again. At last she 

 would succeed in throwing it right back into her throat 

 and after a little trouble and much jerking of the head get 

 it down. This would account for the number of bruised and 

 broken figs and other fruit that are found under the trees 

 in the forest, for the Hornbills evidently drop far more than 

 they eat. She was very conservative, refusing peaches and 

 other cultivated fruits. For a few days before she died she 

 sat on the ground in a corner with her bill resting against the 

 wall or with her head thrown backwards between the shoulders 

 on to her back and her bill pointing upwards, remaining 

 motionless for hours in that strange position; the weight of 

 the great casque and bill evidently told on her as she became 



SER. IX. vol.. 11. 2 G 



