154 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Here also I gatliered a splendid orchid (Gdleola sp.) grow- 

 ing on dam2^ rotting tree-trunks, climbing over the low forest, 

 singuhir in producing no foliage but putting forth a stem pro- 

 fusely flowering at short nodes for forty feet in length, with 

 blossoms of a rich yellow colour. In the depths of the forest 

 I found the large Bajfiesia arnoldi and Hasseltii, and the 

 smaller but handsomer Brugmanda Loivii. 



On the giant Urostigma I shot several specimens of 

 Bucerotidm, the white-crested Hydrocisa alhirosiris, and the 

 great hornbill (Bueeros (/aIeati(s),Vi'hose heavy scarlet hammer- 

 fronted casque, w^hich it uses to beat with far-resounding 

 thuds the branches of the trees, draws upon it a severe perse- 

 cution, as in Palembang each head commands a large price, 

 for out of its dense white ivory-like consolidated horn, are 

 manufactured studs and sleeve-links of great beauty. The 

 casque in most species of this family is a cancellated structure 

 permeated by blood-vessels so teased out as to give it great 

 lightness, that it is difficult to understand why in this 

 species it should be so solid and heavy ; yet, notwithstanding, 

 no bird could flit about more lightly in the tree-tops, or 

 gather its food more agilely. In a longitudinal section of the 

 head and casque of this bird, the thick horny hammering por- 

 tion, as well seen in the figure opposite, has behind it a layer of 

 dense bone to which osseous bars radiate towards the occipital 

 condyle, where the head joins with the neck, and pass aboA^e 

 and around the brain cavity, to protect it in a most beautiful 

 way from shock. The brain cavity is thus lodged below the 

 line of shock, and is besides separated from the casque by 

 padding in the shape of a cartilaginous joint. To Professor 

 Flower I am indebted for directing my attention to the 

 beautiful section in the 3Iuseum of the lloyal College of 

 Surgeons sketched here, whose structure had indeed led him 

 to infer, before he knew the fact, that the bird must use its 

 head as a hammering instrument. 



In a neighbouring stream, flitting from stone to stone, I 



obtained the lively Uydrodclila igniea^iUus, a bird in habit 

 and colour closely resembling the true wagtails ; and on its 

 banks the horned frogs {Megalophrifs nasuta) were abundant, 

 whose anvil-like clinkinsy " kano:-kanQ: " filled the air in the 

 evenings ; but, in simulating so closely the dead leaves among 



