on some Burmese Birds. 455 



and found in pairs or parties of five or six^ but frequently in 

 considerable" flocks. Its hoarse croak may be heard at a dis- 

 tance of more than half a mile. At a place called Hmon, 

 on the Sittang river, in January 1874, I found it very 

 abundant and, for a wonder, very tame, so that I was able to 

 secure seven fine specimens in the course of an hour by 

 waiting under a large banyan tree, to which the birds were 

 continually coming to feed on the ripe fruit. Some of the 

 birds I shot had seven or eight banyan fruits clasped between 

 the mandibles on either side. This tree was also the resort 

 of numbers of Crocopus viridifrons, of which more than a 

 dozen fell to my gun within the hour. 



At Tonghoo, towards the end of the hot weather (April), 

 these birds pass over the cantonments in straggling flocks 

 every morning and evening, going to and returning from 

 their feeding-grounds. I have frequently seen forty or fifty 

 of this species in a single flock. 



The iris of the male is lake-red, that of the female greyish 

 white, and of an immature male brown. 



69. Hydrocissa albirostris. 



The Pied Hornbill is extremely common, but never seen 

 in such large parties as the last species, with which it some- 

 times, but rarely, associates. 



I kept a pair alive for many months at Tonghoo : they 

 used to fly about the house and garden, and frequently would 

 alight on the shoulder of a small native boy who was in the 

 habit o£ feeding them. They were extremely partial to dead 

 snakes. On one occasion I found them on the ground, each 

 trying to swallow the same snake, one at the head and the 

 other at the tail. The usual method of procedure, however, 

 was to munch the snake until it was reduced to a suffi- 

 ciently ragged and pulpy condition to admit of its being torn 

 into small pieces and so swallowed. 



72. Rhyticeros subruficollis. 

 Buceros subruficollis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 177. 

 This is a local but, where found, abundant species. These 

 birds are to be seen in the same manner as D. bicoruisj but 



