' ORDER PASSERES. 433 



there from Batavia. It was fed in general with biscuit 

 moistened in water, and with meat, both cooked and raw, 

 and ate also rice and vegetables. It appears therefore that 

 these naturally very voracious birds easily accommodate their 

 appetite to circumstances ; though, in a natural state, insects, 

 snakes, lizards, and even carrion, are their usual food. M. 

 Le Vaillant on one occasion offered the hornbill in question 

 some small birds he had shot, which were seized immediately ; 

 and after being for a short time pressed and rubbed in the 

 bill, were swallowed whole. The sailors stated that he 

 hunted the rats and mice whenever they came within sight, 

 though he never had dexterity enough to catch them ; he 

 swallowed however very readily all that were offered to him. 

 The habit of this bird appeared to be to seize every thing 

 that was given, and afterwards to reject such as did not suit 

 its taste, to which it never recurred. 



The true bill of this bird is black at the base, then slightly 

 reddish, and afterwards light-yellow to the point. The false 

 bill or prominence is red or flesh-coloured on the upper side, 

 and light yellow beneath. A black line marks the contact 

 between it and the true bill ; which, rising with the bend 

 of the false bill on each side, gives it the appearance of a 

 perfect beak, with the two mandibles closed. 



The eyes are large, and are furnished above with black 

 lashes. The feet are strong, and covered with large brown 

 scales ; and the nails, flatted laterally, have their points 

 blunted and injured by friction on the ground. 



The general colour of the bird is black ; but the tail, 

 which is slightly cuneiform, is tipt with dirty white. 



Bbntius relates of this bird, in a state of nature in Java, 

 that it lives on carrion, and will follow the sportsman to 

 feed on the entrails of the animals he may take, and that it 

 hunts rats and mice and small quadrupeds. 



The rhinoceros-hornbill is found in India, as well as in 



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