bucerotid^. 249 



The Common Grey Hornbill. 



Descr. — Plumage grey, paler below, and from the breast gradu- 

 ally albescent ; ear-coverts darker cinereous, and a light streak 

 over the eye and ear-coverts; primaries and secondaries dusky 

 black, the latter margined with grey, and all tipped white ; the 

 first three primaries with a pale outer web, and a white strea'c 

 about the middle, or rather nearer the tip ; tail also black near the 

 end, tipped with white. 



Bill and casque dusky ; the tips and ridges of both mandibles 

 whitish ; casque low and compressed, the ridge prolonged ante- 

 riorly to a very acute angle ; and the hind-part concealed by the 

 feathers of the forehead (which bend down over it,) and not 

 extending backwards over the crown. 



Length about 22 inches ; ext. 32 ; wing 8 ; tail 10-| ; bill 

 straight to gape, 5 inches; height If; casque up to 3 inches; 

 tarsus 1 1 ; irides red-brown ; feet dark plumbeous. 



Tl)is small Hornbill is spread throughout all India, in well- 

 wooded districts, but does not appear to extend into Assam, nor 

 into any of the countries to the eastward. It is not found in 

 thick forests, and is almost unknown in the woods of Malabar, but 

 frequents open and thin forest-jungle, groves of trees, gardens, and 

 especially the fine old avenues of banian and other trees, that abound 

 in the extreme south of India, and are said to have been mostly 

 planted by Hyder Ali. It is almost always found in small parties, 

 occasionally in pairs, living chiefly on fruit, and especially the fio-s 

 of the banian, peepul, and other fig-trees ; sometimes, however, 

 feeding on large insects. On one occasion I found that it had 

 eaten Mantides and LocustcB. It has a loud sharp cry. In some 

 parts of India the flesh is used, medicinally, to alleviate the pangs 

 of child-birth. 



Gen. ToCKUS, Lesson. 



Char. — Bill without a casque, but with the ridge somewhat 

 elevated and much curved ; size small ; plumage grey. 



The Indian species has been separated as Rhinoplax, Gloger, 

 according to Bonaparte ; but Horsfield has applied that generic 

 name to B. galeatus. 



2 I 



