NO. 9 CASQUED HORNBILLS — KILHAM 45 



Occasionally a foreign pair of Bycanistes would visit a nesting 

 female and attempt to feed her. 



Lone female hombills interfered persistently with a number of 

 nesting pairs. At one nest this interference had serious consequences. 



Male hornbills fed their mates largely on fruit but also caught in- 

 sect and vertebrate prey. Lists are given of such fruits and insect 

 remains as could be identified. 



Roosting habits are described for one pair before and for a lone 

 male during the nesting season. 



Casqued hornbills were much alarmed by hawks and eagles. 



They prefer the largest of forest trees to nest in. Rapid destruction 

 of forests in Uganda threatens the future of these birds. 



Three hornbills, removed from nests when 6 to 7 weeks of age, 

 have been reared in captivity, largely on a diet of animal protein. The 

 exact age of one captive was known. Two of them have remained 

 closely paired from the age of 3 months. Bill tapping and plastering 

 against the walls of their cage were done by the male and the female, 

 beginning at 9 to 10 months of age. 



A comparison has been made of Bycanistes and Tockus. There are 

 many points of similarity in the habits of the two genera. 



REFERENCES 



B.\NNERMAN, D. A. 



1953- The birds of West and Equatorial Africa. 2 vols., 1,526 pp., 144 figs., 

 54 pis. 

 Browx, Leslie H. 



1952. On the biology of the large birds of prey of the Embu district, Kenya 

 Colony. Ibis, vol. 94, pp. 577-620. 

 Mackworth-Praed, Cyril W., and Grant, C. H. B. 



1952. Birds of eastern and northeastern Africa, xxv + 836 pp., 53 col. pis., 

 6 black-and-white pis., hundreds of text figs, and maps. 

 Moreau, R. E. 



1936. The breeding biology of certain East African hornbills (Bucerotidae). 

 Journ. East African and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 13, Nos. i 

 and 2, pp. 1-28. 

 Ranger, G. 



1949a. Life of the crowned hornbill, Lophoceros suahelicus attstralts. Terri- 



torialism, family life, and breeding. Ostrich, vol. 10, pp. 54-65. 

 1949b. Life of the crowned hornbill (Pt. II). Ostrich, vol. 20, pp. 152-167. 



1950. Life of the crowned hornbill (Pt. III). Ostrich, vol. 21, pp. 2-14. 



1951. Life of the crowned hornbill (Pt. IV). Ostrich, vol. 22, pp. 77-93. 



1952. Life of the crowned hornbill (Pt. V). Ostrich, vol. 23, pp. 26-36. 

 Stonor, C. R. 



1937- On the attempted breeding of a pair of trumpeter hornbills (By- 

 canistes buccinator) in the Gardens in 1936, together with some 

 remarks on the physiology of the moult in the female. Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, vol. 107A, pp. 89-95. 



