THE MALABAR HORNBILL, 



OF THE HORNBILLS IN GENERAL. 



THE n<x,t/.ls of these birds are small, round, and situated behind 

 the base of the bill. The tongue is small and short. The legs arc 

 caly: the toes placed three forward, and one backward; the middle 

 toe is connected to the outermost, as far as the third joint, and to the 

 innermost, as far as the first. 



The animals of this, as well as the last tribe, have all singularly 

 disproportioned bills. Those of the Hornbills are bent, jagged at the 

 edges, and have frequently on the upper mandible, a protuberance, 

 somewhat resembling another bill. 



These bird* seem to hold the same place on the old continent, as 

 the Toucans do on the new ; and probably they subsist on similar 

 food. 



THE MALABAR HORNBILL. 



This bird is about two feet six inches long, and in bulk somewhat 

 bigger than a Crow. The bill is more than five inches in length, 

 having on its upper part a protuberance rounded at the top, reaching 

 two-thirds of its length, and tending to a sharp edge in front : this 

 extends beyond the eyes, and in the fore part is black. The base 

 and edges of both mandibles, as well as a small portion of the upper 

 part are also black : the general color of both of these is a dingy yel- 

 low. The plumage is in general black, some of the feathers inclining, 

 on their margins, to green ; but the lower part of the breast, the belly, 

 the thighs, and the tip of the wings and tail, (except one outer feather 

 in each of the former, and the two middle feathers in the latter, which 

 are colored like the rest of the body,) are black. The legs are black, 

 and very short. 



In a wild state these extraordinary birds inhabit the great woods of 

 Malabar and the East Indies, where they usually roost on the highest 

 and most inaccessible trees, and in preference, upon the dead and 

 withered branches. The females form their nests in the worm-eaten 

 holes of the trunk, and generally lay four or five dingy white eggs. The 

 young-ones, when first produced, are completely naked, and, for some 

 time, the protuberance on their bill is not more than two or three 

 lines in depth. This, by degrees, increases, but does not attain its 

 full growth until the birds are two years old : their plumage then 

 assumes its proper colors. 



The protuberance upon the bill is frequently observed to be injured 

 by the use to which the birds apply it, in beating the branches of 

 trees for the purpose of detaching the bark, in order to discover in- 

 sects and even small Lizards, which take refuge there, and on which 

 they feed. 



In the island of Ceylon these birds are in great request by the 

 inhabitants ^ho carefully rear thenr >n a, domestic state from their 



