RHINOCEROS MORNBILL. 6 



slight scream of joy. It was fed with biscuit 

 steeped in water, flesh either raw or dressed, rice, 

 pease, &c. Monsr. Levaillant one day offered it 

 some newly killed small birds which he had lately 

 shot, and which it readily devoured entire, after 

 bruising them for a considerable time in its bill. 

 It was said also, during its voyage from India, to 

 have always pursued rats and mice whenever it 

 perceived them, though it never was nimble enough 

 to catch one. Its monstrous bill, which at first 

 appears so formidable a weapon, is by no means 

 such in reality, and Monsr. Levaillant assures us 

 that he several times put his hand into the bill 

 without feeling the slightest pain, though the bird 

 exerted ail its endeavours to wound it. Monsr. 

 Levaillant adds, that the Hornbills in general are, 

 in his opinion, naturally carnivorous, all those 

 which he observed in Africa feeding on serpents, 

 lizards, insects, &c. and sometimes on carrion. 



I must not omit to observe that the specimen of 

 the Rhinoceros Hornbill in the Leverian Museum 

 differed from that described by Monsr. Levaillant 

 in having the lower part of the belly, and the tail 

 white, the latter marked by a broad black bar across 

 the middle; agreeing in this respect with the de- 

 scription given by Brisson. 



