THE ZooLoGist—APRIL, 1875. 4393 
other species, is very slightly casqued. The bird measures twenty 
inches, including its long tail and bill, although when plucked it 
is not larger than a pigeon. It is called in Natal the “toucan,” 
from its great resemblance to the American toucans, but when 
closely examined a distinguishing feature is at once seen. American 
toucans have only three claws [? Ed.], whilst all the African species 
have four. Although the large fragile bill seems formed expressly 
for fruit-eating, yet this hornbill by no means confines itself to a fruit 
diet, feeding largely upon caterpillars, beetles and other insects, 
which we have often taken out of its stomach. This bird is 
naturally half tame, and will allow one to approach within a yard 
or two without stirring: on being disturbed it floats rather than 
flies to another tree, seeming to use scarcely any effort in doing so, 
uttering at the same time its loud shrill cry of “he, he! he-he-he!” 
They congregate in small flocks of from ten to twenty, and, except 
at the breeding season, are never seen in pairs. They lay from three 
to five white eggs, with a rough unpolished surface, the size of a 
ring dove’s, but more tapering: these are placed in a hole of a 
decayed tree. The curious habit they have of plastering up the 
female in her nest whilst hatching has often been described. When 
the young are out of the shell she escapes from her confinement, 
probably with the assistance of her mate, and they are both equally 
assiduous in bringing food for their young, which are very vora- 
cious. On the 2lst of December, 1871, we found a nest containing 
five half-fledged young birds; three of these we took home and 
reared on bread and porridge. They throve well, and we kept 
_ them for some months, flying about the place as tame as possible. 
Unfortunately they came within the reach of an eagle we had at 
the time, who quickly devoured them. When resting they hada 
peculiar habit of squatting on their tibia, with their tails erect, 
looking more like squirrels than anything else. The way this bird 
has of feeding may be worth mentioning: on account of the 
awkward length of its bill it has to make two efforts before it can 
swallow its food: it first takes its food into its bill, and then by 
jerking the head backwards, throws the food fairly into its throat; 
this is rather troublesome, as it has to repeat the process with 
every berry it swallows. The flesh of the hornbill is not bad, but 
this species is rarely shot on account of its small size. 
The pied hornbill (Buceros Buccinator) is a much larger species 
than the last; the specimens, male and female, in our collection, 
