xxvni BEAKS 343 



The Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus) differs from the 

 arboreal species (Buceros) in several points. In size 

 and general appearance it resembles a turkey, indeed 

 English settlers in Africa often call it the " turkey 

 buzzard." It has longer legs and shorter toes than the 

 tree species ; it runs along the ground and does not hop. 

 It differs from other hornbills in having its casque open 

 in front. Bucorvus can fly when necessary. This bird 

 feeds on small reptiles, tortoises, insects, and everything 

 that crawls : also roots, fruits, and berries. Like Buceros 

 it tosses dainty bits in the air before swallowing them. 



In captivity ground hornbills make delightful pets ; 

 their eyelids bear eyelashes which are really modified 

 feathers, and when they screw up the eyelids and quiz 

 onlookers and bystanders, the effect is very comic, and 

 often weirdly human. 



These birds are heavy on the wing and when flying 

 produce a sound like a small steam-engine. Among 

 trees they shuffle along the branches and resemble 

 in awkwardness a scullery maid at a ball. Ground 

 hornbills go about in small groups, and roost at night 

 in trees, and, though little is known of their breeding 

 habits, it is probable that they build in the flat crown of 

 a tree where the trunk has decayed away, or actually 

 in a hole (Stark). 



The Whale-headed Stork or Shoe-bill, is an extra- 

 ordinary bird : in 1860 two living examples were 

 brought to England by Petherick and exhibited in the 

 Zoological Gardens. They were obtained from the 

 Upper Nile. It is a gaunt bluish-grey bird, four feet 

 in height and possesses the biggest bill of any living 

 bird : it is yellow with dusky mottlings and not unlike 

 the head of a whale, but the Arabs liken its head and 

 jaws to an Arabian shoe and call it the " Father of a 

 Shoe." This bird feeds chiefly on fishes. Whale-headed 

 storks are grotesque looking objects as they stand 

 alone or in pairs among the rushes on the shores of 

 broad rivers, marshes, inlets of lakes, and backwaters. 



