HORN BILLS. 235 



real confinement : the male plasters up the entrance, leaving only 

 a narrow slit by which to feed his mate, and which exactly suits 

 the form of his beak. The female makes a nest of her own feathers, 

 lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the young till they 

 are fully fledged. During all this time, which is stated to be two 

 or three months, the male continues to feed her and the young 

 family. The prisoner generally becomes fat, and is esteemed a 

 very dainty morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a hus- 

 band gets so lean, that on the sudden lowering of the temperature 

 which sometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, 

 falls down, and dies." 



Notwithstanding the magnitude of their beaks, the hornbills 

 lightly traverse the branches of trees, and leap from one to another 

 until they reach the highest, when they often stop and utter a loud 

 roaring sound, which may be heard at a considerable distance, and 

 is alarming to those who do not know whence the sounds proceeds. 

 The noise thus uttered — which probably is their call-note — may 

 throw some light upon the use of the hollow protuberance sur- 

 mounting the bill, which possibly acts as a sounding-board by 

 increasing the reverberations of the air. With regard to the huge 

 beak itself, many conjectures have been entertained as to its pe- 

 culiar uses. It has been suggested that it perhaps constitutes a 

 weapon of defence against monkeys and other animals which may 

 seek to assail its owner's nest ; while some have supposed that 

 it might be employed in dragging snakes and lizards from their 

 lurking-places, as is undoubtedly the case with the Abyssinian 

 hornbill above alluded to: perhaps, with its assistance, young 

 birds and eggs are procured from nests built in the recesses of the 

 trunks of aged trees ; but, however this may be, the tongue within 

 is quite out of proportion to the size of the bill, being remarkably 

 short, triangular, and smooth. 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Crested Hornbill {Buccros coroiintiis), delineated in the figure given 

 above. 



