174 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



No. XV.— THE GREAT INDIAN HORNBILL {DICROCERROS 

 BICORNIS). 



Members of the Society and others who have had the pleasure of visiting 

 our small Museum will be sorry to leara of the death on Monday evening, 

 the 3rd May, of the Great Indian Hornbill which had lived in the Museum 

 since August 1894 and was always a source of interest and amusement, 



'< William ", the name affectionately given to this bird, was certainly an 

 appropriate one for if ever there was a big Bill it was to be found here. 

 The power behind this enormous beak is used in the case of the free bird 

 for many purposes amongst which may be mentioned the provision of a nest 

 for the breeding season, but in captivity it was principally used to draw 

 attention to its owner's wants and the noise the bird made by hammering 

 at the roof or sides of its cage (an old disused temporary bath-room) would 

 arouse even the most inattentive of its attendants and servants. 



There is a story that many years ago a lady was beiug shown round the 

 Museum by Mr. ii'hipson, who was then the Honorary Secretary, and on 

 arriving at the Hornbill's cage the lady was told " You know that bird has 

 something in common with some ladies. He paints himself every day" "Ah 

 Mr. Phipson you won"t catch me. I have been told of the stories you tell 

 to visitors " was the lady's reply. Mr. Phipson's was " My dear lady it is 

 the tirst true story I have told you since you entered the Museum." 

 Whether it was the first or not cannot now be proved but true it was. 

 The Great Indian Hornbill makes good use of the gland, called the 

 ' Uropygial,' above the tail feathers from whence exudes an oily yellow 

 pigment. The bird laying back its head on to the gland would cover its 

 big casque with the yellow paint and take great pride in the operation. 

 The pigment no doubt served to preserve the horny substance of the casqtie 

 for it is a curious fact that whilst the bird has been named from dead 

 specimens the " concave" casque hornbill — in the living specimens the 

 casque is convex. In the dead specimens the centre of the casque has 

 collapsed. 



The Hornbill's original home was Karwar and he was presented to the 

 Society in August 1894 by Mr. H. Ingle. In his early youth "William " 

 was a famous cricketer and could be relied on to equal a Presidency cricke- 

 ter in his capabilities as a field. Of late years, owing either to old age or 

 perhaps approaching blindness, he seemed however unable to catch any- 

 thing and the old system of feeding had to be changed and, instead of the 

 fruit on which he lived being thrown to him, the dish had to be held up 

 to him from which he would select those fruits which seemed to his sensi- 

 tive beak to be sufficiently succulent. In the day time, when he could be 

 observed, " William " hardly ever condescended to take food placed on the 

 floor of the cage. 



■ On only one occasion did this Hornbill ever depart from his life long 

 abstinence from drink of any kind, and on the occasion in question it was 

 force majeure. He had playfully extracted a lighted cigar out of a friend's 

 mouth and swallowed it. Mercifully the cigar was promptly extinguished 

 in the process as in order to make the bird disgorge, brandy was poured 

 down its throat ! All the liquid nourishment these birds require is obtained 

 from the fruit they eat. 



" William " was supposed to have been about six months old when he 

 came to Bombay— so was about 26 years old at the time of his death. He 

 has been carefully skinned and will be sent to England to be mounted by 

 a skilful taxidermist and will eventually occupy a prominent position in the 

 Natural History Museum which it is hoped Government will soon build. 



R. A. SPENOE. 

 BoMBiY Natuiial History Society's Museum, 



5th May 1920. /j; ■ ■ 



