100 BIRDS OF TENASSEMM. 



of the casque Lave generally an orange tinge, and the fiat or 

 rather curved upper portion of the casque is generally tinged 

 with orange, intermingled with red. 



In some specimens the coloration is very bright ; in others 

 the whole bill and casque is duller and paler. As to the bright- 

 ness or the reverse of the yellow of the bill this probably 

 depends upon whether the latter has or has not recently had a 

 fresh coat of paint. This the bird undoubtedly lays on from 

 the uropygial glands ; you may see them sitting rubbing all 

 parts of the bill against the glands, and then a little later rub- 

 bing the bill against the bases of all the quills, whence the 

 yellow tinge, so generally noticeable there and in other parts 

 of the body, and all transferred there by the bill from 

 the gland. 



In the male the posterior portion of the casque, a triangular 

 patch on each side of the casque in front, and the truncated 

 portion of the culmen from three to five inches downwards 

 from the anterior margin of the casque, are black. 



In the female the posterior portion of the casque is red , 

 there is no patch on the side of the casque, and the truncated 

 portion of the culmen in front of the casque or more is 

 less red. 



142.— Hydrocissa albirostris,* Shaw. (24). 



(Tonghoo, Karen Bills, Earns.) f ahpoon ; Salween E. ; Thatone ; Assoon ; 

 Meetau ; Karope ; Amherst ; Yea ; Zadee ; Meeta Myo ; Tavoy ; Mergui ; 

 Tenasserim Town ; Pakeliau ; Bankasoon. 



Common throughout the less densely wooded portions of the 

 province. 



* The name malaharicus, Gmel., often applied to this species, cannot possibly 

 stand for it. 



Gmelin's own description, though extremely brief, sufficiently indicates either affinis or 

 albirostris, but his dimensions (length 2£ to 3 feet French, or 33 to 39| inches English) 

 at once show that he had affinis in view. The references he gives certainly do not 

 much help to fix the species. He refers to Edward's Gleanings, t. 281, fig. D., 

 which is a head of convexus ; to BufFon's Calao de Malabar, P. E. 873, which is corona- 

 tus ; and to Latham's Pied Hornbill, Syn. I, 1, 349, w. 6, t. 11, which, with a length 

 of 35 inches including bill, is clearly affinis. 



If, therefore, Gmelin's name is used at all, it must be applied to affinis ; but con- 

 sidering not merely that the bird never occurs in Malabar, but that the name is taken 

 directly from BufFon's name, which applied to a totally different species, it may be 

 doubtful whether Gmelin's name should not be wholly rejected. 



As to the name that the smaller race should bear, it may be that albicomis, Wilkes, 

 Encyi Lond., Ill, 479, 1808 (a work to which I have not access, and the authorship 

 of the ornithological part of which is said to be unknown) may apply, and if so it 

 will have precedence, otherwise Shaw's albirostris, founded on Le Vaill, " Calao a 

 bee blanc" must stand. Although Le Vaillant says the bird was killed at Chandanagore, 

 he clearly refers to the smaller form. His figure is particularly good (for him) and 

 his dimensions, length from the top of the head to end of tail 20 French (21-9 English) 

 inches, and bill 4'65, English, suit admirably, a rather small specimen of the Indo- 

 Burmese Pied Hornbill, with a casque at the stage represented in the figure. As 

 Shaw's name is based simply on a translation of Le Vaillant's description, we may 

 unhesitatingly accept it, 



