384 Lieut. H. R. Kelbam on 



W. E. Maxwell, Esq., H.M. Assistant Resident of Larut, I 

 hear that the Malays have a strange legend connected with 

 one of the large Hornbills ; but which species, I was not able 

 to find out. It is as follows : — 



'^'^A Malay, in order to be revenged on his mother-in-law 

 (why, the legend does not relate), shouldered his axe and 

 made his way to the poor woman''s house and began to cut 

 through the posts which supported it. After a few steady 

 chops, the whole edifice came tumbling down ; and he greeted 

 its fall with a peal of laughter. To punish him for his 

 unnatural conduct, he was turned into a bird ; and the ' te- 

 bang mentuah ' (literally, he who chopped down his mother- 

 in-law) may often be heard in the jungle uttering a series 

 of sharp sounds like the chops of an axe on timber, followed 

 by Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!^^ 



I asked Mr. Low, H.B.M. Resident of Perak, if he could 

 give me any information as to which species of Hornbill this 

 legend relates to ; and he writes : — " It is the largest Hornbill 

 which is found in Perak, bigger, I should say, than the Rhi- 

 noceros Hornbill ; but I have never seen it except flying or 

 on very high trees. The legend about it is very common; but 

 I do not know the scientific name of that particular Hornbill : 

 but it is not that you refer to, viz. Berenicornis comatus, 

 Raffles ; nor is it the Rhinoceros."' 



Hydrocissa convexa (Temm.). 



During August 1879 I saw one which had been shot a few 

 days before on Pulo Battam, near Singapore. 



Hydrocissa malayana (Raffi.) . The Malay Pied Hornbill. 



I occasionally saw this black-and-white Hornbill in the 

 neighbourhood of Kwala Kangsar, generally in the vicinity 

 of villages. During March 1877 a pair were continually 

 about the village of Kota Lama ; but they were so wary that 

 I never got a chance of shooting either of them. The species 

 undoubtedly breeds in Perak, as the Malays brought me 

 voung birds but a few weeks old. In August 1877, when up 

 the Moar river, I got one of these Hornbills near Bukit 

 Kopong. 



