DESCRIPTION, DISTRIBUTION, HABITS 



Crowned Hornbill {LopJwccros ^jiclmwlcucus). (Vol. II., 

 p. 69.} 



Description. — Back, wings, and tail dark brown ; the feathers 

 of the latter tipped with white ; the outer ones slightly ; the 

 others broadly. Quills of wings narrowly edged with light 

 buff. Throat, chest, and sides grey and black. Abdomen 

 pure white. Iris yellow. Bill red with a yellow band at the 

 base. Legs dark brown. 



Lengthy 23.0 ; wing, 9.6 ; tail, 8.60. 



The female is slightly smaller than the male, but otherwise 

 resembles it. 



Distribution. — Cape Province, and north to Central Africa. 



Habits. — The crowned hornbills associate in small flocks 

 and frequent the wooded districts. When the breeding season 

 approaches they pair off, and, finding a sufficiently large hole 

 high up in a tree trunk, the female enters and lays her eggs. 

 The male from the outside and the female from the inside 

 plaster up the entrance to the hole, leaving only a slit through 

 which she passes her bill to be fed by the male bird. During 

 her term of imprisonment, which is seven or eight weeks, the 

 female moults, and on emerging from the nest hole she is in 

 good condition and provided with new plumage. Clutch, 3 to 

 4. Eggs pure white and rather rough to the touch. They 

 are laid in December or January. It is believed the female 

 leaves the nest before the young are fully fledged, and seals 

 up the entrance again, leaving the usual slit through which 

 the young are fed. The cement used for sealing up the entrance 

 is the excrement of the birds, which is full of the wing cases 

 and legs of insects. 



Trumpeter Hornbill {Bycanistes buccinator). (Vol. II., 

 p. 69.) 



Description. — Above and on the breast black with a dark 

 greenish gloss. Head crested. Rump and upper tail coverts 

 white. Abdomen white. Tail feathers, with the exception 



VOL. II. 129 9 



