bucerotidj!:. 251 



The Rufous-necked Hoknbill. 



Descr. — Male. The whole head, neck, breast, and upper abdomen, 

 bright ferruginous; back and wings black, the latter, with the 3rd 

 to the 8th primary, broadly tipped with white ; tail black at the 

 base, white for more than half its length ; belly, thighs, and vent, 

 ferruginous-bay. 



Naked skin round the eyes, and at base of bill, rich velvety light- 

 blue ; the naked skin of the throat bright scarlet. Bill yellow, with 

 the grooved stride chesnut. A nestling male bird, in the Museum 

 As. Soc, Calcutta, has the neck rufous, from which it would 

 appear that the sexes differ ab initio. 



Length 4 feet ; wing 18^ inches, tail 18 ; bill straight to gape 9 ; 

 height 3. 



The female is wholly black, except the tips of the wings, and 

 end of the tail, for about a third of its length, which are white. 

 Length 40 inches ; wing i7i ; tail 17. 



This fine Hornbill is found in the S. E. Himalayas, in Nepal and 

 Sikim, extending into Assam and Muaipore. At Darjeeling it is 

 found from 2,000 to 6,000 feet, generally in pairs. It utters a 

 deep hoarse croak, which is constantly heard in the thick and lofty 

 jungles it frequents. It lives on fruit of various kinds, and 

 breeds in holes of trees ; but I was unable to find its nest when 

 at Darjeeling, to ascertain if, like the others, it encloses the female 

 durmg incubation. Hodgson was told by the natives that "it 

 makes its abode upon the solid wood, in an old decaying trunk 

 of a tree, and has its mansion further secreted by an ingeniously 

 contrived door, so that it is difficultly found." This is evidently 

 a misconception, though perhaps founded on the usual peculiar 

 nidification. Hodgson gives an interesting account of one that 

 he kept in captivity. It used to eat meat, either raw or dress- 

 ed, fruit, rice, made into large balls with ghee, &c. : water it never 

 protouched. The throat is very wide, and the swallowing powers 

 digious : whatever is offered to the bird as food is gulped entire, 

 after being rubbed more or less between the huge mandibles. 



Rhyticeros ruficollis, T., Rh. subrvjicollis, Bly th, and Rh. plicatas, 

 Latham, three species somewhat allied to A. nipakiisis, are found 



