430 CLASS AVES. 



cularly the winged sort, which it catches with much 

 address. Its flight is short, and when at rest, its appearance 

 indicates stupidity. 



The head and upper part of this bird are fine green ; at the 

 base of the lower mandible is a white border ; the throat and 

 fore part of the neck are red, and the wings are brown within ; 

 the belly and vent are pale yellow, mixed with a rosy tint ; 

 the bill is reddish above, and horn-coloured underneath. 



There is nothing remarkable about the other species. 



The last genus, Buceros, of this comprehensive and ill- 

 defined order of birds, is so peculiar as almost to merit an order 

 by itself. 



There is, perhaps, no genus of birds which, taken alto- 

 gether, presents so many diversities as that of the hornbills, 

 by the varieties in the shape of the bill in each species, so that 

 each species might appear to belong to a distinct genus, if we 

 were to adopt in their classification the characters proper to 

 this organ alone. The bill, in all of them, is not merely exces- 

 sive in bulk, but may be said to be deformed by the protube- 

 rance, casque, or helmet on the upper mandible, and which is 

 infinitely varied in form. The size of the bill would indicate, 

 at first sight, that it was a very powerful weapon of offence, 

 but its awkward malformation, if we may so say, at once 

 corrects such an idea, and shews that, however bulky this 

 monstrous bill, it is by no means formidable. 



Buffon has well observed, that the great bill of these birds, 

 as well as that of many of the toucans, cannot have much 

 strength, not having suflicient support ; he compares this bill 

 to a lever placed too far from its fulcrum. 



The form of the bill not only differs in each species, but it 

 varies also with the different ages of the bird, especially in 

 those which have the additional protuberance on the upper 

 mandible ; for these are born with the bill destitute, or nearly 

 so, of this protuberance : when young, there is simply a small 

 excrescence, which increases with the age of the bird, 



