Birds of Gazaland, Southern Rhodesia. 287 
These birds are by no means shy, and on one or two 
occasions this season have done me good service in my 
tobacco-field. I once came across a party searching for 
food on the ground in the forest, though, as a rule, they 
prefer the short open grass-veld. 
113. BycanistEes Buccinator. Trumpeter Hornbill. 
Common not only in the forest, where it is not infre- 
quently to be found in company with the next species, but 
elsewhere throughout the district: I have found it in the 
Jihu, and particularly on the Lower Umswirezi, where it 
frequents the large trees bordering the rivers. It can 
readily be distinguished from the other when on the wing or 
feeding by the far greater extent of white on its abdomen, 
its smaller and darker casque, and its slightly more plaintive 
and—if that will convey my meaning—less brazen braying. 
I have not found the nest of either species, but am informed 
by the natives that both plaster up the female during in- 
cubation, that they lay in December from two to four white 
eggs with light brownish markings—whether actual shell- 
coloration or mere blood-stains my informants were unable 
to tell me,—and that young birds are to be found in the 
nests in February. This all sounds probable enough, but 
it would be unsafe to place too much reliance on information 
of the kind, and, owing to the fact that I have not infrequently 
seen the birds in pairs when the female ought to be sitting 
and a prisoner, I am sceptical with regard to this point. 
These birds, in common with B. cristatus, are excellent 
eating, the flesh being dark and somewhat resembling that 
of a Crane in flavour. A native tradition associates the 
Trumpeter with the first cultivation of cereals by mankind. 
Long ago, says the story, man lived by hunting only, but 
one day a hunter, seeing a bird go into a hole in alarge tree, 
went to the spot and found lying below some ‘“‘ Mapfundo”’ 
(Sorghum) and “Mungeza” (KHleusine); on his taking 
these home and shewing them to the people they accom- 
panied him back to the tree, and, climbing up, found quite 
a store of grain, which they took and sowed: thus, say the 
