244 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



together, they utter most loud, harsh, and discordant cries. Hodgson 

 says that the clamour of a wounded bird is something perfectly 

 amazing. " 1 cannot," says he, " liken this vehement vociferation 

 to anything but the braying of a jackass; its power is extraordi- 

 nar}'^, and is the consequence of an unusually osseous structure of 

 the rings of the trachea and larynx." 



The Homrai flies with more repeated flappings of its wings than 

 the other Hornbills, only In general sailing, just before alighting on 

 a tree. The noise of its wings can be heard more than a mile 

 distant. Like the others, it breeds in holes in laroe trees ; 

 and the " male builds the female in, by covering the hole in the tree, 

 Avhere she incubates, with mud, (Baker says with its ordure)* 

 leaving only room for her bill to protrude, and receive food from his." 

 This, Major S. R. Tickell, who was the first scientific observer of this 

 most curious fact, and whose words I quote, " has seen v/ith his own 

 eyes." Mason, in his work on Burmah, makes the following state- 

 ment — " the female must sit during her incubation, for, if she 

 breaks through the inclosure, her life pays the forfeit ; but, to com- 

 pensate for the loss of freedom, her spirited mate is ever on the alert 

 to gratify his dainty mistress, who compels him to bring all her 

 viands unbroken ; for, if a fig or any other fruit be injured, she will 

 not touch it." This I look on as a native story, and improbable. 

 Fruit forms the only food in the wild state of this, as of most other, 

 Indian Hornbills ; and it always swallows it whole, tossing it in the 

 air before swallovv'ing it, and catching it again in its mouth. 



Mr. Elliot, as quoted in my Catalogue, remarks, " At the root of 

 the tail, above, is a small sac, in which is a bundle, or pencil, 

 of short bristles, forming a brush, from which exudes a yellow 

 oily secretion, with which the birds appear to dress the white wing- 

 spot. "When first shot, the yellow color comes off the bill, in 

 considerable quantities ; and the only parts of the body besides, 

 that are stained with this color, are the white wing-spot, the rump, 

 and the small crest on the back of the head, this latter but slightly. 

 The yellow substance continued to exude from the brush long 

 after the specimen was prepared and dry. The Garuda is 

 sacred to Vishnu, among the inhabitants of the forests." 



* V. J. A. S. 1859 p. 292. 



