HORNBILLS. 147 



at a village while a boat was being made water-tight, I had 

 the good-fortune to obtain a male, female, and young bird of 

 one of the large hornbills. I had sent my hunters to shoot, 

 and while I was at breakfast they returned, bringing me a fine 

 large male, of the Buceros bicoruis, which one of them assured 

 me he had shot while feeding the female, which was shut up 

 in a hole in a tree. I had often rea*d of this curious habit, and 

 immediately returned to the place, accomjDanied by several of 

 the natives. After crossing a stream and a bog, we found a 

 large tree leaning over some water, and On its lower side, at a 

 height of about twenty feet, appeared a small hole, and what 

 looked like a quantity of mud, which I was assured had been 

 used in stopping up the large hole. After a while we heard the 

 harsh cry of a bird inside, and could see the white extremity of 

 its beak put out. I offered a rupee to any one who would go 

 up and get out the bird, with the egg or young one, but they 

 all declared it was too difficult, and they were afraid to try. I 

 therefore very reluctantly came away. In about an hour aft- 

 erward, much to my surprise, a tremendous loud hoarse scream- 

 ing was heard, and the bird was brought me, together with a 

 young one which had been found in the hole. This was a 

 most curious object, as large as a pigeon, but without a par- 

 ticle of plumage on any part of it. It was exceedingly plump 

 and soft, and with a semi-transparent skin, so that it looked 

 more like a bag of jelly, with head and feet stuck on, than like 

 a real bird. 



The extraordinary habit of the male in plastering up the 

 female with her egg and feeding her during the whole time 

 of incubation, and till the young one is fledged, is common to 

 several of the large hornbills, and is one of those strange facts 

 in natural history which are " stranger than fiction." 



