HORN BILL. 191 



Hornbill immediately begins digging till it has uncovered 

 it. They are found in Africa, but even there seem to 

 be scarce, and are highly prized ; their flesh being used 

 as a remedy in many disorders, being placed hot to the 

 part affected. 



TABLE IX. (See page 13.) 



Order 2. PASSERINE. Tribe 3. PLENIROSTRES {full and 

 strong beaked}. 



THIS tribe comprises a number of full and strong- 

 beaked birds, some of which, as the Pies and Crows, are 

 familiar to us ; others again, such as the Grackles and 

 Paradise-birds, are foreigners. The Grackles, indeed, 

 are widely spread, some species inhabiting, the hottest, 

 and others the coldest climates, from the torrid zones of 

 India to the remoter parts of North America : and they 

 might probably be naturalized in this and other coun- 

 tries, where hitherto they have been strangers. 



Like our Jackdaws, with which, indeed, they are very 

 closely allied, being the connecting link between the 

 Crow and Thrush tribe, they are a pert, familiar, lively 

 race, soon tamed ; and when so, making themselves so 

 perfectly at home, as to be often a great inconvenience. 

 In North America, they contrive to gain the good will 

 of even a greater enemy than man, no less a one than 

 the Osprey, or Sea Eagle, which actually permits them 

 to build their nest amongt the interstices of the sticks 

 of which its own nest is framed*, where they hatch their 

 young, and live together in harmony, like the small bird 

 in the nest of the African Eagle, mentioned in p. 120. 



They herd together in immense flocks, rising from the 

 ground in such prodigious numbers, that their wings 

 make a noise resembling thunder ; and when they settle, 

 whole trees are covered from the top to the lowest 

 branches, looking as black as if hung in mourning. In 

 India, they assemble in much the same way, though not 



* RICHARDSON'S Fauna Americana. 



