NO. 9 CASQUED HORNBILLS KILHAM 21 



It was January i, 1955, before I was able to visit the nest again. 

 There was now a single young one, the size of a plucked pigeon, 

 which begged and peeped a few times when I looked in. The forest 

 ranger reported that the second chick had disappeared a week after 

 hatching. The remaining chick had its eyes open. They were dull but 

 mobile. Pinfeathers were just beginning to emerge on its head and 

 wings. The entrance hole was becoming stained with feces, whereas 

 it had been clean previously. On January 8, the young bird had black 

 pinfeathers one-fourth of an inch long on head, neck, and wings. 

 There were smaller, colorless pinfeathers on back, tail, and in two 

 tracks bordering the breast bone. Feet and an inch-long fleshy tail ap- 

 peared large for the size of the bird. The chick seized my finger when 

 I pushed it in. He also chewed pieces of wood. This bird was removed 

 from its nest when 6 weeks old and has lived well in captivity for 

 over a year. 



Periodic inspections of the ground below nest trees gave clues as 

 to the number of eggs and approximate time of hatching in four other 

 nests. For example, on November 27 I found pieces amounting to 

 two-thirds of an eggshell, with its membranes, below nest 4. I care- 

 fully removed all pieces, and on November 28 there were no further 

 eggshells. Six days later, however, I found a second eggshell, three- 

 fifths intact, with an additional one-fifth in pieces. It appeared that 

 two eggs had been laid and that they had probably hatched on different 

 days. This had happened at nest 10. There, it may be recalled, the 

 eggshell was tossed from the nest soon after the hatching of the chick. 

 On the ground below nest 9, 1 removed most of an eggshell on Novem- 

 ber 28, and three-fourths of a shell on December 4. These and other 

 data are tabulated in table i. Data from two other nests were less 

 complete. I found over half of an eggshell below nest 3 on November 

 28, but it was not until January i that a second shell turned up. Pos- 

 sibly it had been covered with debris, either in the nest or on the forest 

 floor. On December 9 there were pieces of one shell below nest 12. 

 I did not, as in the other cases, know how long they had been there. 



Breaking open nests to obtain young. Molting of female. — Inacces- 

 sibility made it difficult to study the molt in nesting females, but I was 

 able to gather some information. Nest 10 could be reached by ladders. 

 The female was usually in her escape attic and I did not want to 

 interfere with her by making an opening. The nest was well lined by 

 remiges when I looked in on December 4. In retrospect I should have 

 removed them with a pair of long forceps for arrangement and count- 

 ing. All I could see of the mother bird was her tail. The tail feathers 

 remained soiled with no evidence of renewal. On December ill had 



