90 BOMBAY DUCKS 



weight. During flight the wings of this hornbill, like 

 those of most of its species, make a tremendous noise. 

 Wallace compares it to the puffing of a steam-engine 

 when starting with a train ; that the simile is not exag- 

 gerated may be judged by the fact that a flying hornbill 

 can be heard a mile away. 



The voice of the hornbill is quite in keeping with the 

 rest of the bird. There exist certain toys with which 

 every one is familiar. Each takes the form of a clay 

 figure representing some animal. This is highly coloured, 

 and is placed on a miniature concertina. When the 

 concertina-pedestal is pressed a horrible squeak is pro- 

 duced, which is apparently intended to represent the 

 voice of the animal. It is only necessary to imagine 

 such a toy over two feet in length, with a two-feet 

 square concertina, in order to arrive at the voice of the 

 Bengal pied hornbill, a bird found in the sub- Hima- 

 layan forests. When a hornbill talks it puts body and 

 soul into its vocal efforts, its tail vibrates with each note, 

 just as that of a crow does at every " squawk." 



Hornbills have eyelashes, a very unusual feature in 

 birds. This accounts in part for the knowing, comical 

 look of the creatures. 



It is needless to say that these birds cannot eat their 

 food without buffoonery. They live chiefly on fruit, but 

 they will eat insects, lizards, fish, and even scorpions ; 

 each morsel of food that is picked up is tossed into the 

 air and caught in the huge beak ! 



Books on natural history state that hornbills are very 

 shy, retiring birds. This has not been my experience. 

 Recently, when I was sitting in a machan, waiting for a 



