82 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



NESTING HABITS OF THE HORN- 

 BILLS. 



BY DR. R. \V. SHUFELDT. 



Hornbills have habits of nidification that 

 in point of interest are not exceeded by 

 those of any other group of birds in the 

 world. Typical species, so far as known, 

 breed in the hollow trunks of great trees 

 which have a natural opening somewhere 

 on the side. When the female begins to 

 sit upon her eggs, the male at once im- 

 prisons her by sealing up the entrance of 

 the cavity with mud or clay. He leaves a 

 small aperture, however, through which 

 he feeds her during the entire period of 

 incubation. 



Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace in his famous 

 work upon travels in the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, most entertainingly describes the 

 nesting habits of one of these species of 

 Hornbills in the following words : "I had 

 sent my hunters to shoot, and while I was 

 at breakfast they returned, bringing me a 

 fine large male of the Buceros bicornis, 

 which one of them assured me he had shot 

 while feeding the female, which was shut 

 up in a hole in a tree. I had often read of 

 this curious habit, and immediately returned 

 to the place, accompanied by several of the 

 natives. After crossing a stream and a 

 bog we found a large tree leaning over 

 some water, and on its lower side, at a 

 height of about twenty feet, appeared a 

 small hole, and what looked like a quantity 

 of mud, which, I was assured, had been 

 used in stopping up the hole. After a 

 while we heard the harsh cry of a bird in- 

 side, and could see the white extremity of 

 its beak put out. I offered a rupee to any 

 one who would go up and get out the bird 

 with the egg or young one, but they all 

 declared it was too difficult and they were 

 afraid to try. I, therefore, very reluctantly 

 came away. In about an hour afterward, 

 much to my surprise, a tremendous loud 

 hoarse screaming was heard, and the bird 

 was brought me, together with a young 

 one which had been found in the hole. 



This was a most curious object, as large 

 as a pigeon, but without a particle of plum- 

 age on any part of it. It was exceedingly 

 plump and soft, and with a semi-transparent 

 skin, so that it looked more like a bag of 

 jelly, with head and feet stuck on, than 

 like a real bird. 



"The extraordinary habit of the male 

 in plastering up the female with her ^gg, 

 and feeding her during the whole time of 

 incubation, and till the young one is 

 fledged, is common to several of the large 

 Hornbills, and is one of those strange facts 

 in natural history which are stranger than 

 fiction." 



Mr. C. K. Adams, when collecting in 

 East India, obtained both the male and the 

 female of another species of Hornbill hav- 

 ing nesting habits similar to those of 

 Buceros bicornis seen by Wallace, and 

 when his collection was brought to this 

 country, the U. S. National Museum 

 secured the pair. Mr. Adams mounted 

 these birds, and a trunk of a large tree, 

 made in papier mache, served to illustrate 

 their nest. This group now forms one of 

 the most interesting ones in the collection 

 of the institution I have just mentioned. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. Goode I have 

 recently had it photographed, and a half- 

 tone reproduction of that picture illustrates 

 the present article. After giving above 

 what I have quoted from Wallace, this 

 beautiful piece of work requires no furthet 

 description from me here. It speaks for 

 itself. In the library of the Zoological 

 Society of London there is a fine drawing, 

 by Mr. Tickell, of the Great Indian Horn- 

 bill, which is the same species that Wallace 

 describes. It shows exactly what our 

 accompanying illustration presents — the 

 male feeding the female through the open- 

 ing in the nearly sealed up cavity. We 

 have in this country a great authority on 

 these birds— I refer to Mr. D. G. Elliot, 

 who in his sumptuous work, a Monograph 

 of the Bncerotidce , has advanced our know- 

 ledge of the group far beyond its former 

 boundaries. There are probably some 60 



