156 DB. J. AKDEBSON ON THE HABTTS OF HOBNBTLLS. 



mountains west of Ilo-Ilo. This is the only place where any of 

 the virgin forest is left ; and there alone I saw these birds. They 

 were not very rare ; but I could only get a single specimen, as 

 they flew so high in the trees that my gun could 'scarcely reach 

 them." 



Although closely allied to (7. cassidix, it ditfers in several par- 

 ticulars, as will be seen by the following description. Greneral 

 <:olour above and below greenish black ; wings uniform with back ; 

 tail black for the basal third, fulvous or light chestnut for the re- 

 mainder, with a tolerably broad greenish band ; head and neck all 

 round dark chestnut, inclining to fulvous above the eye and on 

 the ear-coverts ; bill red, the casque deeply grooved. 



This interesting bird I propose to call GraniorrMnus waldeni, 

 after Lord "Walden (The Marquis of Tweeddale), who has, by his 

 excellent memoir on the ornithology of the Philippine Islands, 

 rendered the study of these birds an easier task than could ]>os- 

 sibly have been the case three years ago. 



On the Habits ofHornbills, being extract of a letter by Dr. JonN" 

 Andeesok, F.L.S., Indian Museum, Calcutta, to Dr. J. 



MUBIE. 



[Read December 21, 1876.] 



Indian Museum, Calcutta, 

 November 24, 1876. 

 In the Zoological Grardens here we have two Hornbills of generic 

 distinctness, Sydrocissa albirostris and Aceros suhrujtcollis, Blyth. 

 The other morning, on visiting the aviary in which these birds are 

 kept, I was astonished to find the Aceros subruficollis tossing 

 about and catching with its bill a specimen of the Little Lnri- 

 keetj Loriculus vemalis, which it ultimately swallowed head 

 foremost. Since then I have had this bird regularly given one 

 Sparrow a day, which it takes with evident gusto. The way in 

 which it tosses the bird about, passing it through its bill from side 

 to side, from the head to the feet, seems to me to indicate that it 

 does so to break the bones. It even goes carefully over each leg 

 of the bird to be swallowed ; and the dexterity with which it 

 pitches the bird about without letting it fall is truly remarkable. 

 The bird having undergone sufficient tossing and bill-crushing, is 

 then swallowed head foremost. 



