ANTHRACOCEBOS. 143 



casque, and the posterior portion of the casque are black, but not 

 in the female, in which, however, the posterior portion of the 

 casque is red. In both sexes the base of the mandible is black. 

 Irides in male blood-red, in female pearly white ; eyelids black ; 

 orbital skin dark fleshy pink ; legs and feet greenish plumbeous. 



Length about 52 inches ; tail 15 ; wing 20; tarsus 2-9 ; bill from 

 gape to point in a straight line 1O5. Females rather less, 

 wing 18; bill from gape 9. Tenasserim birds are decidedly smaller 

 than Himalayan. 



Distribution. Along the Sahyadri or Western Ghats from the 

 neighbourhood of Bombay to Cape Comorin ; this bird is unknown 

 elsewhere in the Indian Peninsula, and is wanting in Ceylon, but 

 is found throughout the Himalayas as far west as Kumaun, up to 

 about 5000 feet ; and is generally distributed in Assam, Cachar, 

 Tipperah, and other countries between Assam and Burma, 

 throughout Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra. 



Habits, fyc. Like the other large Indian and Burmese Hornbills 

 this is a forest bird, and generally keeps to high trees ; it appears 

 never to descend to the ground. Wherever it is found, it makes 

 its presence known by the great noise produced by its wings in 

 flying, a sound that may be often heard a mile away. Its flight 

 is an alternation of a series of flappings of the wings and of sailing 

 along with the wings motionless, but the flapping predominates 

 and the flight is less undulating than in many Hornbills. Some- 

 times this bird is found in pairs, more often in flocks of from five 

 to twenty or more. The food consists mainly of fruit, but insects 

 and lizards are also eaten, as Tickell has shown ; the fruit or other 

 food, as with many other Hornbills, is tossed in the air and allowed 

 to fall into the bird's throat. The nidification was observed first 

 by Tickell, subsequently by Mr. E. Thompson, Major Bingham, 

 and others, and is typical. The eggs, usually two or three in 

 number, are laid about April in the Himalayas, but in February in 

 Tenasserim, Kanara, and Travancore, and measure about 2*62 

 by 1-88. 



Genus ANTHRACOCEROS, Eeich., 1849. 



Casque very large and high, sharp-edged and projecting in front, 

 broader and carried back above the crown behind, the upper 

 border curved and parallel with the commissure. Orbital skin 

 and that on the sides of the throat nude ; chin and middle of 

 throat feathered. Tail long and wedge-shaped at the end; wings 

 rounded and short. Plumage of the two sexes similar, but casque 

 differently coloured. 



A genus of five or six species, ranging throughout the greater part 

 of the Oriental region. Two species are Indian. Both have the 

 same habits. They are usually found in parties (families) of five or 

 six, and keep to high trees either in forest or in groves in well- 

 wooded country, especially near rivers ; they live chiefly on fruit 

 and berries ; and are very noisy, making a cackling sound in 

 chorus. Their flight, unlike that of the larger Hornbills generally 



