FAMILY CARES — BUILDING THE HOME. 129 



substance Avith her beak to effect an exit; 

 having left the nest, the aperture through which 

 she left is carefully closed up again, leaving the 

 slit as before, and now both male and female 

 devote their energies to feeding the young birds, 

 who in course of time follow the example of their 

 mother and leave their place of imprisonment. 

 It is more than probable that this glueing up first 

 of the mother-bird and her eggs and afterwards 

 of the nestlings alone is solely a means of protec- 

 tion against predaceous carnivora. ..." 



" The nesting season is during May and June, 

 and it is noteworthy that the birds, if undisturbed, 

 return to the same nesting-place every year. 

 The saplings at the foot of the tree, sprung from 

 seeds dropped in the first year of pairing, afford 

 signs to the natives of the number of years 

 during which the tree has been occupied. If 

 during pairing or incubation the female, or female 

 and young are destroyed, the male takes to him- 

 self another mate, and repairs to the same nesting- 

 place ; if, however, the male and female are 

 destroyed, the nest is never re-occupied by other 

 23airs. An interesting incident was observed 

 while on Mount Dulit. Espying on a tree the 

 external signs of a hornbill's nest, and a male 

 Buceros rhinoceros perched close by, I shot the 

 male, and while waiting for my Dyak collectors 

 to make a ladder up the tree to secure the female, 

 I observed several young male birds fly to the nest, 

 and assiduously ply the bereaved widow with 

 food, a fact which seems to indicate a competition 

 in the matrimonial market of the bird-world as. 

 severe as that among human beings. It is no 

 I 



