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of the upper jaw, and pass forwards to mark the boundary of the 
great terminal beak. On the mid-line, a little behind the nasal fossze 
and in front of the hinge, the upper jaw-bone rises into a rough boss. 
Now in most birds the highest part of the upper jaw is between 
the nasal fossee, and not behind, as in the Baleniceps. This cha- 
racter, with the backward extension of the jaw, the shortness of the 
frontals, and the very forward position of the enormous well-margined 
orbits, helps to give a solemn, wise, but somewhat sinister aspect to 
the bird. Looking at him in his paddock, the first impression is 
that we have before us some strangely ancient form with “ the breath 
of life’’ in it, and ‘ standing upon its feet,’’ concerning which geo- 
logy had taught us that ‘its bones were dried up, and its hope lost.” 
‘Fhe marginal outline of the great upper jaw of the Baleniceps 
much resembles that of the leaf of Magnolia grandiflora. Its length 
is more than twice its breadth; whilst in the Boatbill the breadth 
is more than half the length, the upper jaw of the latter being more 
outspread. The degree of arching of the upper jaw is intermediate 
between that of the Boatbill and that of the Stork (Ciconia). The 
gradual rise of the mesial ridge to form the great terminal hook, the 
erescentic notch forming the inferior margin of that beak, and then 
the graceful outward curve of nearly the entire mandibular margin, 
give great elegance to the lateral aspect of the upper jaw. At the 
end of that margin we have the commencement of the great cheek- 
bone, which is nearly two inches long, half an inch broad, and one- 
quarter of an inch thick. 
Such a magnitude of the zygomatic arch as this is perfectly unique 
in the class of Birds, being more like the development of the same 
part in most Mammalia, in the Crocodiles, and in the Turtles. In 
the enormous heads of the larger Hornbills, the cheek-bones are not 
half the size they attain in the Baleniceps. 
The os quadratum, or tympanic bone, which forms so beautiful an 
articular medium between the cranium and lower jaw in birds, is 
strong and well-developed. This bone and the little pterygoid, which 
intervenes between it and the palatines, have very much the character 
of the same bones in the Heron and the Adjutant; but the palatine 
bones themselves, coalescing at the mid-line, and sending downwards 
a strong keel at that part, are exactly intermediate in structure be- 
tween those of the Adjutant and Pelican. These bones and the 
pterygoid at their point of junction are beautifully scooped out to 
receive and glide under the strong beam of bone which forms the base 
of the interorbital septum. 
The great strength of all the bones forming the upper maxillary 
apparatus is in perfect harmony with what is known of the habits of 
the creature. In this respect it has no peer amongst its congeners, and 
no superior except amongst some of the larger Parrots. But the latter 
birds, although they possess the most. perfect fronto-maxillary hinge, 
have nothing in their tympanics, or malar bones, at all comparable 
to those of the Baleniceps. Perhaps the most elegant part of this 
bird’s structure is the hard palate, formed for the most part by the 
coalesced premaxillary bones ; the maxillaries in birds, as in typical 
