22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



my only full view of the mother when she briefly defended her chick. 

 Her plumage appeared complete, but I did not see her outstretched 

 wings. My next view of her was when I broke open the nest on 

 January 22. After putting the 6-weeks-old chick in a bag, I reached 

 into the hollow trunk and pulled the mother bird down. She was kept 

 in captivity for a few days of observation. Plate 5, figure i, shows 

 that her plumage was complete. The only sign of molting was one tail 

 feather, a few inches long, which was still enclosed in a sheath. She 

 was not shy in captivity, but she remained motionless, as if stunned, 

 and refused to eat. I liberated her on January 24. In spite of a long 

 period of confinement in the nest and having had no food for 2 days, 

 she flew to a tree, squawked a few times, then took a flight of 300 to 

 400 yards. She was headed back in the direction of Mpanga Forest, 

 13 miles away. 



It was apparent that this female, viewed when roughly one-third, 

 and again at two-thirds through the nesting period, had not experi- 

 enced any sudden or complete molt. On January 30, we opened nest 16 

 to remove a chick 6 or 7 weeks of age. The mother bird struggled 

 vigorously, striking the African who held her a sharp blow on the 

 chin, so that he fell over backward. When I took hold of her it was 

 obvious that she was in no weakened condition. Her plumage ap- 

 peared to be complete except that her tail feathers, although well 

 grown, had sheaths at the base. She flew readily to a tree when 

 liberated. 



Premature escape of female due to loss of mate. — When I entered 

 Mpanga Forest on the afternoon of January i, I heard the wailing 

 screech of a female hornbill in distress. The calls were given twice a 

 minute. I followed them to nest 4 where I found a pair of foreign 

 hornbills. These flew away at my approach. The female in the nest 

 kept screeching for the next 2 hours in a most pitiful manner, but 

 her mate failed to return. I examined the ground below the nest tree 

 and found that he had been killed. There were two large patches of 

 feathers directly below his usual perch. These patches were 2^ to 

 4 feet across. One consisted principally of small body feathers and 

 the other of large feathers from wings and tail. I suspected that the 

 hornbill had been struck from his perch by some bird of prey, and, 

 after falling directly to the ground, had been plucked on the spot. The 

 female was still screeching when I left the forest late in the afternoon. 

 On the following morning I reached the nest shortly after 9 a.m. The 

 mud wall was partially broken out. A new pair was inspecting the 

 nest and it was evident that the original female was no longer there. 



Natural nest openings. — I observed how nests were opened naturally 



