OR INDIAN BUCEROS. I 2 J 



to me with the horn very much worn at the point, 

 which they told me proceeded from the birds strik- 

 ing it against the trees; but for what particular pur- 

 pose they so applied it, they could give no clear 

 account. 



But what may be probably deemed the most ex- 

 traordinary circumstance relating to this curious bird, 

 is its feeding upon the Nux vomica. This is a point 

 which I have been able clearly to ascertain. One of 

 these birds, purchased by Capt. John Campbell, 

 was opened, by his orders, before several respectable* 

 gentlemen at MiAmpore; and in its craw were found 

 several seeds of the Nux vomica. With respect to 

 my own observation, I have had only one opportu- 

 nity of seeing the contents of the craw, which was 

 that of the bird shot at Kullar. Nothing was found 

 in it but the remains of an egg, and some weeds : but 

 to carry on the enquiry, that I might be able safely to 

 assert what appeared to me a circumstance of treat 

 curiosity, I asked the bird-catchers what these birds 

 fed upon. They very particularly mentioned a fruit 

 called Coochla. Agreeably to my directions, they 

 brought it to me. It was about the size of a lime, 

 of an orange colour, with a very hard skin, shinino- 

 and almost smooth : it contained a pulpous substance, 

 distinct and separate from the shell. Conversing since 

 with a man who had been in Major Crawford's 

 corps at Jtlda, who had seen great numbers of these 

 birds in the surrounding hilly country, I enquired of 

 •him what they fed upon. He said, sometimes upon 

 the berry of the Peeptt-txtt > but that the food they at- 



feted 



