Tufted Timbres. 93 



of a "large, heavy man" without collapsing; the 

 entrance is through a small hole, generally placed 

 in the most inaccessible side. These nests are 

 placed on trees or rocky ledges, and are occupied 

 year after year, being added to or repaired as 

 required. 



The birds have a curious habit of decorating 

 their nests; on which subject we again quote 

 Mr. Layard, who says : " About some that we 

 visited we found brass and bone buttons, bits of 

 crockery, bleached bones, &c. Mr. Jackson said 

 if a ' Tottie y lost his knife or tinder-box on the 

 farm, or within some miles of the place, he made a 

 point of examining the hammerkops' nests, and 

 frequently with success ; the birds, like the Bower- 

 birds of Australia, embellishing their dwellings 

 with any glittering or bright-coloured thing they 

 can pick up." Sir John Kirk describes the nests 

 as colossal, and says that they sometimes measure 

 six feet in diameter ; and he tells us that the 

 Africans look on this bird as unfit for food, and 

 also as sacred, or as possessing the power of 

 witchcraft, and that it is considered unlucky to 

 injure it. 



The tufted umbres now in the Zoo are not the 

 first of their kind that have been in the possession 

 of the Society, as some few years since a solitary 

 specimen was acquired which lived in the Gardens 

 for something like twelve months, and became 

 extremely tame; but, with this single exception, 

 they are new to the collection. They are in the 



