THE SOLID-BILLED HORNBILL. 89 



Genus RHINOPLAX, Gloger. 



477. RHINOPLAX VIGIL. 

 THE SOLID-BILLED HORNBILL. 



Buceros vigil, /. R. Forst. Ltd. Zool. p. 40. Buceros scutatus, Bodd. Tall. PI. 

 Enl. p. *V>. Buceros galeatus, Gm. Syst. Nat. \. p. 3GO. Rhinoplax scuta- 

 tus, Sahad. Ucc. Born. p. 88. Rhinoplax vigil, Elliot, Mon. Bucer. pi. x. ; 

 Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 115; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 86. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown and nape with a short occipital 

 oivst dark brown ; ear-coverts and scattered feathers on the sides of the 

 head brown edged with rufons ; remainder of the head, all the neck and a 

 considerable portion of the back bare and red ; the upper plumage, wings 

 and breast brown ; the longer upper tail-coverts white ; primaries and most 

 of the secondaries tipped with white; abdomen, sides of the body, vent 

 and under tail-coverts white ; central tail-feathers grey, the others white, 

 the whole with a broad black band near their ends. 



The female does not appear to differ from the male except in having a 

 shorter tail. 



The whole of the sides, the top of the casque and the sides of both upper 

 and lower mandible as far as the casque extends are deep crimson ; the 

 truncated front of the casque and the whole of the upper mandible beyond 



the casque are a bright orange-yellow ; irides dark litharge-red ; 



legs and feet dirty orange-brown ; skin of eyelids the same dirty red as the 

 other bare portions. (Davison.) 



Length of male to end of ordinary tail-feathers 43' 5 inches ; tail to end 

 of ordinary tail-feathers 18 ; wing 19*25 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from gape straight 

 to point fr75 ; length of casque along its upper ridge 3; height of upper 

 mandible and casque 3*5. (Davison.) 



This remarkable form differs from all others in having a short rounded 

 casque quite solid throughout instead of hollow, and in having the central 

 pair of tail-feathers produced a considerable distance, twelve to eighteen 

 inches, beyond the next pair. It has the head, neck and a considerable 

 portion of the back naked and of a red colour, and altogether it is, as 

 Mr. Hume aptly calls it, a perfect nightmare of a bird. 



The Solid-billed Hombill has been observed in the extreme south of 

 Tenasserim at Bankasoon, where Mr. Davison obtained one specimen and 

 my men another. 



It extends down the Malay peninsula, and occurs in Sumatra and 

 Borneo. 



Mr. Davison is probably the only naturalist who has observed this bird 

 in a state of nature, lie says : " The birds are excessively shy and rare, 



