TEANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFKICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 



NESTING HABITS OF TOCKUS MELANOLEUCUS, Licht. 



By Dr. S. Schonland, Hon. M.A. Oxon, F.L.S., 

 Director of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown. 



(Bead March, 1895.) 



The nesting habits of the ' crowned hornbill ' (Tochils melano- 

 leucus) are so very extraordinary that they have repeatedly been 

 noticed by various writers, but owing to the difficulties of finding the 

 nests of this bird many details of the earlier accounts are not quite 

 accurate, while others'are not touched upon at all. As it has been 

 my good fortune to have been able during the last few years to 

 examine no less than seven nests together with the birds belonging 

 to most of them, and as they appear to me to furnish a clue to the 

 most important of the hitherto obscure points in the nesting habits 

 of the crowned hornbill, I propose shortly to pass in review what 

 is known to me about these curious habits. Nothing has, to my 

 knowledge, been published on the nesting habits of any other South 

 African hornbill. The bird I am dealing with is, in winter, often 

 seen in large numbers in the gardens of Grahamstown, whereas in 

 summer they are only to be met with in the country in close 

 proximity to wooded kloofs. The reason for this slight migration 

 will be very obvious, as we shall see presently that with us they 

 nest in places where hollow trees are to be found. About five years 

 ago Mr. C. Wilde, who was then taxidermist to the Albany Museum, 

 discovered a nest in Driver's bush, about twenty-five miles south-east 

 of Grahamstown. It was purchased by the Committee of the Albany 

 Museum. In addition to the examination of the specimens which 

 were brought to me, I made a careful examination on the spot of 

 a nest found at Berkhleys, Lower Albany, before it was removed, 



