NO. 9 CASQUED HORNBILLS — KILHAM 1 7 



appears to go right through a hornbill's intestinal tract undigested. 

 This is especially true of young birds, as I discovered with my captive 

 specimens. Feces from younger individuals does not always clear the 

 entrance. This was observed from the scaffold by nest lo. There was, 

 therefore, ample organic matter to attract ants, and their presence in 

 great numbers may explain why I failed to find insects, in the nature 

 of parasites, scavengers, or others, in examinations of nest debris. 



ACTIVITIES OF NESTING PAIRS 



Walling in of female. — As far as I can determine, I was watching 

 nest 5 on the evening when the female began her 4 months of volun- 

 tary confinement. On November 7, the male was active late in the 

 afternoon bringing termite earth to his mate, and giving her pellets 

 as she worked. On the following day I arrived at 5:15 p.m. to find 

 him bending over the entrance. The sun shone into the hole. I could 

 see that the nest wall was complete and that no more building was in 

 progress. For the next hour the male stayed close by. At 6:30 p.m. 

 he flew to a large tree {Canarium schwcinfurthii) and picked some 

 fruit, then returned to his nest with loud wailing. He gave his mate 

 five or six fruits and she made low guttural notes. Dusk was now 

 coming on. The male flew to a limb 15 feet away, then took a long 

 flight which carried him out of sight over the brow of the hill. His 

 mate remained alone. It was not until March 7 that I was to see her 

 again. 



Feeding and other attentions of male to mate in nest. — Once walled 

 in the nest, the female was entirely dependent on the male for food 

 until she emerged with her young one some months later. Nest 5 was 

 well situated for observations. I would station myself below the huge 

 Piptadenia tree in the Botanical Gardens (pi. 3, fig. 2) every few days 

 during the week, before breakfast and again late in the afternoon. 

 The male was accustomed to people passing beneath the arching limb 

 containing the nest hole. Some days I would wait nearby an hour 

 without seeing him approach the nest. I discovered, however, that 

 there was some regularity to his visits, one usually taking place close 

 to 7 130 a.m. Forty feeding visits were observed in the course of 

 4 months. A visit on November 13 was typical. At 5:40 p.m. the 

 male came flying over the open lawns, head held high, and wings 

 making a "woo-ooshing" noise. He held a chip of wood 5 inches long 

 in his beak. It looked as though he were flying with a cigar. He 

 landed on the big limb, then bounced sideways until he was on the 

 bole above the nest entrance. Then he leaned over and pushed the 



