352 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



finds the exertion of flying so great that it is compelled to rest at intervals of about a mile ; and the 

 same author says that he heard the Great Hornbill (Dichoceros bicornis} more than a mile off, so that 

 the amazement caused by one of these large birds to the travellers in New Guinea, as mentioned above, 

 does not seem so very inexplicable. The voice of the last-named species is said to be very harsh and 

 grating, and the noise it makes is compared by Wallace to something between the bray of a Jackass 

 and the shriek of a locomotive, and is not to be surpassed, probably, in power by any sound that an 

 animal is capable of making. Tickell says that its roar re-echoes through the hills to such a degree 



GUEAT HORNBILL. 



that it is difficult to assign the noise to a bird ; and Wallace observes that this is kept up so continuously 

 as to be absolutely unbearable. The flight is heavy, and performed by repeated flappings of its huge 

 wings. It usually flies in a straight line, and sails only when about to alight upon some tree.* 



The food of the Hornbills consists principally of fruits, but under certain circumstances they 

 become to a great extent omnivorous, and will devour anything, some of the species searching the 

 ground for Lizards, which they devour readily, both when wild and in confinement ; and the Pied 

 Hornbill (Anthracoceros malabaricus) is stated by Mr. Inglis to be very fond of live fish, which it 

 catches in shallow pools. The way he discovered this predilection for an abnormal diet was as follows : 

 he possessed a tame Otter and three tame Hornbills ; at feeding time the Otter was placed in a tub 



* Elliot : "Monograph of the Bucerotidae, or family of the Hornbills," Part IV. 



