24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I3I 



Mrs. Iris Darnton. At 10:30 a.m. Mrs. Darnton was attempting to 

 photograph the parent hornbills where I had seen them earlier. The 

 young one was perching on a low branch by a roadway. He flew with 

 some difficulty to a higher perch. At this moment an intruding female 

 hornbill attacked the young one and the two fell grappling to the 

 ground. The parents made a great commotion. Their young one lay 

 flat on the road, but soon flew onto the lawn, then into a low tree. 

 After 5 p.m. I came to the gardens and found the family where last 

 seen by Mrs. Darnton. The young bird was perched precariously near 

 the top of a spindly tree and one foot hung limp and useless. He was 

 using half -spread wings to maintain his perch. The male parent made 

 a great noise when he saw me, but soon quieted down, hopped closer, 

 and fed the young one four fruits. Ten minutes later he tried to feed 

 him again, but without success. The mother bird did not attempt to 

 feed the young one. She remained inactive. A foreign female hornbill 

 stayed about 50 feet away. On the following morning I found the 

 parents in the same area, but the young bird was not in the trees, so I 

 searched the underbrush and found him on the ground. When placed 

 on the lawn, he was unable to fly. The male parent swooped repeatedly 

 at my head. I was reluctant to take away the young bird, but it was 

 obvious that any passing dog or individual could kill it. I therefore 

 took it home. Plate i, figure 2, shows his appearance 2 days after 

 leaving the nest. I estimated that he was 10 to 11 weeks of age, using 

 as a guide my captive male of known age. One of his feet was broken. 

 When placed in a splint, it healed completely in 3 weeks. This bird 

 was the only one of my four captives that did not become tame. 



Parental devotion. — No large hornbills had come to our garden 

 regularly since departure of the roosting pair in October. However, 

 from April i until May 15, when we left, a pair of hornbills came 

 every day, often remaining fur some time. I soon recognized the 

 male. It was the one I had watched for 4 months in the Botanical 

 Gardens, which were 2 miles away. The parent hornbills had located 

 their young in his outdoor cage, and our garden resounded off and on 

 all day with their wailing and commotion. They perched on adjacent 

 trees, and frequently swooped down low over the wire. "Mutesa," 

 as we called the young one, never responded in any perceptible way. 



TERRITORY, AND RELATIONS OF HORNBILLS WITH 

 ONE ANOTHER 



Specific interference. — Nesting hornbills were interfered with by 

 members of their own species to a surprising degree. Experiences at 

 nest 5 illustrate the persistence of such interference. On November 6 



