128 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub as 7. pallidirostris,a species wecannot 
allow, for in the series sent by Mr. Sala from Galungo were examples 
with deep red and pale coloured bills, but belonging, as it seemed to ' 
us, to the true 7. melanoleucus. Whether this change in the colour — 
of this organ is due to age or season we do not know, but it was ; | 
probably one of the pale-billed birds which Mr. Andersson described 
as having the bill “ reddish-yellow.” He says that its food consists of 
lizards and beetles. : 
Le Vaillant states that the nest is made in a large hole in a tree; i 
and that the eggs, four in number, are white. | i 
Our friend Mrs. Barber thus writes of the singular habit which this 
bird exhibits, in common with other species of the genus, of blocking 
up the sitting female in her nest :—“ By the bye, do you know that 
our Hornbills build their nests of mud and sticks in old broken and 
hollow trees, or between the crowded stems of the tall Euphorbia in 
our forests; and while the process of incubation is going on the | 
male bird builds the female into the nest, closing up the entrance in 
such a manner that it is impossible for her to escape, leaving only a 
small hole for the purpose of feeding her during her long imprison- 
ment. I do not know how long she is kept in durance vile; but we 
have sometimes taken them out, and found them so cramped and weak 
that they were unable to fly. This peculiar habit may be a pre- 
cautionary measure to protect the female during the season of incuba- 
tion ; for it may be that during that time she is too weak and dull to 
fly away from any approaching danger. Depend upon it that it is not 
done in yain, and that there is a sufficient reason for this strange and 
curious habit. We self-willed and presumptuous human beings often 
act without reason or reflection; but the ‘birds of the air’ and the 
‘lilies of the field’ are guided by a higher Power! And if we do not . : 
understand the wisdom of all their ways, it is because we have not 
studied them sufficiently.” 
Head grey, some of the feathers at the back rather elongated, and 
centred with white, giving the bird when in some positions the ap- 
pearance of having a white half circle at the back; back dark brown, 
each feather edged with lighter brown; wing-feathers very dark 
brown, edged with white ; tail same as wings, and broadly tipped 
with white, with the exception of the two centre feathers ; under side 
with the exception of the throat*and chin, dull white; bill large, 
slightly casqued, red, with a narrow yellow band along the base ; 
