i828 THE PICARIAN BIRDS 



of the lower abdomen, thighs, and under tail coverts. The bill has a large 

 casque, with the fore part turned up into a horn-like protuberance, whence the 

 bird's name of rhinoceros. The color of the bill is whitish yellow, black at the 

 base, the casque lake red, shading off below into orange near the base, which is 

 black; and there is also a black line from the side of the nostrils to the fore part of 

 the casque. The feet are yellowish green, and the iris deep lake. The female 

 resembles the male in color, but has no black base, and no black median line along 

 the side of the casque. In the young birds there is no fully developed casque, but 

 only a small orange-colored excrescence on the top of the upper mandible. In Java 

 another species is found (B. sylvestris} with a nearly straight casque. In many 

 places this great bird is kept in a state of semi-domestication, and Mr. Burbidge 

 writing of one which he saw thus kept in Northeastern Borneo, observes that " the 

 rhinoceros hornbill is very often seen in a state of domesticity, enjoying at the same 

 time perfect liberty. When very young they are taken from the nest, and accommo- 

 dated with a bit of old cloth in a basket as a bed, being fed on rice and soft fruits, 

 until they are strong enough to wander about; they sit on their haunches, wheezing 

 and shrieking all day long, and continually clamoring for food. Their beauty is 

 about equal to that of a very fat badly-plucked goose. If well fed, however, they 

 soon gain strength and assume their plumage, and then they flap about the house 

 and steal or beg for food. At one place where I stayed collecting for some time, a 

 native, in whose house I had established myself, had reared a very fine specimen of 

 this bird. It was the most voracious brute I ever saw. It was omnivorous, and 

 nothing came amiss to it or seemed to disagree with it. It was a fine full-grown 

 male, and a jolly fellow into the bargain. Very often he would descend from a tall 

 camphor-wood tree, which stood a hundred yards or so from the house, in the jun- 

 gle, to the top of which he was fond of going to sun his wings and clean himself 

 after a meal. When he was very hungry, it was only by tying a string to his leg, 

 and moving him to the side of the house, that he could be prevented from eating 

 off the same plate as myself, or putting his great horned head into the rice dish or 

 curry bowl. Bones of a fowl, curried or not, were gobbled up instantly, and the 

 wonder was to me how he managed to bolt big bones and tough biscuits without 

 choking himself. Whatever was thrown anywhere near his head was sure to fall 

 into his open bill; indeed, I never saw a dog that could catch food in his mouth 

 better; everything was caught on the point of his great bill, and then tossed into 

 the air, being again caught and swallowed; this tossing was always performed. 

 Bones, the entire bodies of small birds from which the skins had been removed for 

 preserving, lumps of bread, biscuits, fruit, fish, or wet rice, shavings, and even 

 nodules of moist earth, all seemed equally welcome, and after taking in a cargo of 

 provisions which would have formed an ample meal for a pig twenty times his own 

 weight, he would ' saw the air ' with his great wings, and having gained his favor- 

 ite perch on the tall camphor tree, would sun himself and plume his wings, and 

 shriek until he became hungry rather than hoarse. ' ' 



This species (Dichoceros bicornis) is the largest of the hornbills, measuring nearly 

 five feet in length, with a great casque concave on the top, and nearly square, rising 

 into well-marked corners on the fore part. The color is black with white bases 



