Mr. J. Gould on a new Species of Hornbill. 147 



on the neck being arranged in a manner quite peculiar ; should, 

 therefore, the neck of the Balceniceps really prove to be feathered all 

 round, there will so far be a difiFerence : but it must be remembered 

 that a neck feathered throughout might possibly approximate the Ba- 

 lceniceps to the Storks, but never to the Boatbill. 



I believe that a minute consideration of the external characters of 

 the Balceniceps v?ill sufficiently enable us to recognize in this gigantic 

 wader a near relative of Scopus ; but, no doubt, new and important 

 proofs are to be derived from the skeleton when compared with 

 that of the last-mentioned bird. I have, however, not the means of 

 making such a comparison, never having seen any part of the skeleton 

 of the Balceniceps. Even of the skeletons of the Scopus and the 

 Cancroma I have only more or less imperfect skulls and some few 

 bones at hand. I should therefore only wish to mention here, that 

 the interorbital septum is entire in the Scopus (as it is in Lepto- 

 ptilos and Tantalus), but perforated (as far as I can see, in the muti- 

 lated skull now before me) by a large opening in the Cancroma as 

 well as in the Herons ; and that the zygomatic arch, formed by the 

 malar bones, is longer in the Boatbill than in the Scopus, — so much 

 so indeed, that in the shorter skull of the first it is nearly twice as long 

 as it is in the longer skull of the Scopus — this bird approaching 

 even in this respect to the Storks, while the Heron type prevails in 

 the Cancroma even in this point. It would be very interesting to 

 know how the Balceniceps is shaped in these respects *. 



And now, to finish my cursory remarks, I shall beg only to 

 advance, as the final conclusion to whicii I have been led by my 

 examination of the Balceniceps, that this most curious bird should 

 be removed from the neighbourhood of the Cancroma, to constitute, 

 together with the Scopus, a small exclusively African subfamily in 

 the great circle of the Ardeidce of Leach, approaching nearer to the 

 Storks than to the Herons. 



Description of a New Species of Hornbill, from Western 

 Africa. By John Gould, F.R.S., etc. 



Toccus Hartlaubi, Gould. 



All the upper surface, back, wings, and tail uniform dark brownish- 

 black, glossed with green ; three outer tail-feathers on each side 

 tipped with white, the inner one of the three less so than the others ; 

 under surface sooty-black, each feather fringed with grey, giving 

 these parts, particularly the abdomen, a mottled appearance ; under 

 surface of the shoulder greyish-white ; basal portion of the inner webs 

 of the primaries silvery-grey ; bill rather stout and deep at the base, 

 with a small sharp keel or ridge near the base of the culmen ; basal 

 three-fourths of the bill black, apical fourth obscure blood-red. 



Total length, 14 inches; bill, 2j ; wing, 6; tail, 6f ; tarsi, 1. 



* My friend Mr. A. Newton, to whom I had communicated my opinion with 

 regard to the Balaerdceps during his visit to Copenhagen last year, has lately in- 

 formed me that the malar bones are enormously large and strong in this bird ; the 

 same cannot be said of them in Scopus. 



