308 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI. 



By far the most curious thing about this quaint bird is the fact that the 

 bright yellow colour on the casque, the upper part of the beak, the neck, and 

 to a certain extent on the white wing feathers, is artificial, inasmuc has it is 

 put on by the bird itself. The specimen in the Society's rooms can be seen 

 any morning carefully painting itself up for the day. "With the extreme 

 tip of its beak it arranges the small feathers which surround the uropygial 

 gland on its back, at the root of the tail, and then proceeds to rub its casque 

 and neck on to the open gland, which is about the size of a shilling, and from 

 which an oily yellow secretion is exuded. This it does several times during 

 the early part of the day, and for some hours afterwards the yellow 

 colour is apt to come off on to one's hands and clothes when the bird is romp- 

 ing with its friends. 



H. M. PHIPSON. 

 Bombay, August^ 1897. 



No. Ill— THE GEEAT INDIAN HORNBILL IN THE WILD STATE. 



Mr. Phipson has asked me to state on oath what I know as to the character 

 and habits of the prisoner at the bar — I mean the bird in the cage, at our 

 Society's Booms, which he has described in the foregoing note. This I do 

 with pleasure. 



The names by which this bird is known are many, being Homrai in Nepal, 

 Banrao in Mussoorie (both words meaning " King of the Jungles"), Garuda 

 amongst the Canarese , Male moraki in Malayalum, Hwang in Assam, and 

 Ouh-cMn-gyi amongst the Burmese ; but notwithstanding all this, like Ali 

 Baba's famous Nubby Bux, he means nothing by it, and a child might play 

 with him — that is, when he is in a good temper. 



Scientific folks call him Dichoceros bicornis, the Great Hornbill, and he is 

 great, the biggest of his tribe in India, measuring fully four feet from tip of 

 beak to tip of tail, with wings in proportion, the noise whereof, when he is 

 flying, can be heard a mile off. As can be inferred from his many names, he 

 is widely distributed in India, and is not only common, but obtrusive where 

 he occurs. 



In the forests of Burma and Tenasserim D. Ucornis is particularly plentiful, 

 going about sometimes in pairs, but generally in parties of five to twenty in 

 number. 



Once in my early days in Burma I was encamped in high forest close to 

 the bank of the Salween river. It was the month of February, and the 

 various species of Ficus — F. religiosa, F, indica, &c— were in full fruit. I 

 do not think I have ever seen forest fruits of all kinds in such abundance 

 since. All fruit-eating birds, but especially Hornbills, swarmed, and of these 

 D. bicornis was in great force. The whizzing creak of their wings was inces- 

 sant through the day round my camp, and in the early mornings and evenings 



