144 MR. A. D. BARTLETT ON THE [Feb. 25, 
compels him to bring all her viands unbroken, for if a fig or any 
fruit be injured she will not touch it.” 
This remarkable passage at once arrested my attention ; for doubt- 
less it is the result of careful observation. The point to be noticed 
is the fig-like appearance of the pellet of food that the male bird 
offers to the female, as it would be impossible at the distance the 
observer must be from the birds that he could distinguish the little 
yellow-skinned bag from a fig or other fruit of about that size. 
Mr. Wallace says the entrance of the nest is stopped up with mud 
and gummy substances. Referring to Dr. Livingstone, I find that 
on page 613, ‘ Missionary Travels in South Africa,’ he says :—‘ The 
first time I saw this bird was at Kolobeng, where I had gone to the 
forest for some timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind 
me and exclaimed, ‘There is the nest of a Korwe.’ I saw a slit 
only, about half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a 
slight hollow of the tree. Thinking the word Korwe denoted some 
small animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract ; 
he broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the 
hole and brought out a Tockus, or Red-beaked Hornbill, which he 
killed. He informed me that when the female enters her nest she 
submits to a real confinement. The male plasters up the entrance, 
leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his mate, and which 
exactly suits the form of his beak. The female makes a nest of 
her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the 
young till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which is 
stated to he two or three months, the male continues to feed her 
and the young family. The prisoner generally becomes quite fat, 
and is esteemed a very dainty morsel by the natives, while the poor 
slave of a husband gets so lean that on the sudden lowering of the 
temperature, which sometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is 
benumbed, falls down, and dies.” 
It will be seen by this statement that the male dies from ex- 
haustion, doubtless produced by the constant and continual repro- 
ducing not only of the actual food taken by the male, but of the 
supply of nutritive secretion in which the same is enveloped*. 
Without, however, allowing this strange statement and supposed 
discovery to remain simply, as many may think, an unlikely story, 
let us consider whether there are any other known facts bearing 
upon the point that will assist us in arriving at a fair conclusion 
upon this extremely interesting subject. 
That Parrots, Pigeons, and many other birds reproduce their par- 
tially digested food during the pairing and breeding-season for the 
support of the female and young is well known. The tame male 
Hornbill is particularly distinguished at all seasons by this habit of 
throwing up its food, which he not only offers to the female but to 
* The Rey. T. Phillips, in his MS. notes (see Moore’s Catalogue of Birds in 
East-India House), speaking of the common Grey Indian Hornbills, says:—‘“‘A 
specimen killed at Hasanpur, on the Ganges, had in its belly when opened a hard 
lump about the size of a Pigeon’s egg, which on being cut open was found filled 
with the fruit of the Peepul and other trees,” 
