176 Wonders of the Bird World 



the body of the bird, and deposited by it round the 

 entrance to the nest, where it hardens, and becomes 

 a protection against the many enemies 

 of these birds. When the young bird is 

 old enough to fly, the parents break down 

 this wall, and the hen and her youngster 

 leave the nest. Wishing to observe the 

 habits of these interesting Hornbills, I 

 would not allow the men to take the birds, 

 or to interfere with the nest ; and on coming 

 to the tree some days afterwards, I watched 

 the male bird feeding his family. He 

 settled on a convenient knob of the tree 

 just below the nest, and the hen-bird put 

 her beak through the hole and received 

 four or five pellets about the size of a 

 small hen's egg, but longer. These pellets, 

 I afterwards discovered, were enveloped 

 in a sort of elastic skin, and contained 

 chopped-up leaves and small shoots, mixed 

 with fruits and various seeds. When the 

 young bird was ready for us to take, we 

 went to open the hole, and one of the men 

 having gone on before, shot the male bird 

 and proceeded to climb the ladder and 

 break away the wall at the entrance to the 

 nest. The tree, however, was hollow, and 

 the hen-bird fluttered upwards out of his 

 reach. Finding he could not catch her, he 

 left the young one in the nest to prevent 

 the mother from leaving, as he had made 

 the hole by this time quite "large enough 

 for her to escape ; he then came down, and we returned to 

 the hut to devise a plan for securing the old bird. The 

 Dyak, who had done this work before, soon made a kind of 



Dyak Basket. 



