276 TOCKUS GINGALENSIS. 



succeeding pair ; beneath, including the sides of the neck, greyish white, the vent and under tail-coverts rufescent 

 yellowish, and the thighs bluish cinereous. 



Young. Birds of the year have a total length of about '20 to 21 inches ; wing 7" 7 to "-O ; bill from gape to tip (straight) 



3-2 to 3-6. 

 The bill is shaped somewhat differently from the adult, inasmuch as the perpendicular lateral portion extends forward 



until it meets the margin ; with age the upper edge of this " wall" disappears, leaving only about £ inch of this 



part at the base of the mandible. 

 Iris red ; bill black, usually a white stripe of greater or less extent on the wall of the bill, and in some with patches of 



the same on the lower mandible ; legs and feet bluish brown. 

 Head and hind neck darker than iu the adult ; under tail-coverts perhaps, as a rule, more rufous. 



Obs. The amount of black even on the bill of the adult varies slightly. In the young stage this bird was thought bv 

 Layard to be perhaps a different race ; he had only procured specimens in one district, viz. the south, which 

 coincidence, I suppose, strengthened his belief as to there being two species in the island. I was, at one time, 

 inclined to think that he might perhaps be correct in his supposition, basing my ideas, however, on a difference of 

 size in the bill : but a good series, afterwards collected by me, demonstrated both the cause of the black bill and the 

 variability in size of that of the adult. The development of white in some specimens is more than in others ; in 

 certain individuals the penultimates may both be entirely white, while one of the primaries in others may be 

 similarly coloured. 



Tockus gingalensis is allied to the South-Indian T. griseus, which Jerdou confounded with it in his notice of the Indian 

 bird (loe.cit.). The latter has the plumage more of a brownish grey than a slate-colour; the bill is reddish at the 

 base, paling to yellowish at the tip ; the orbital skin is purplish. 



Tockus griseus has not yet been delected in Ceylon. 



Distribution. — This Hornbill, commonly known, as is also the last, by the name of Toucan, is an inhabitant 

 of most of the tall forests and heavy jungles of the low country, ascending the mountains of both the Central 

 and Southern Province, in the former of which I have met with it at an elevation of T000 feet. It is plentiful 

 throughout the northorn forests, and Mr. Holdsworth found it inhabiting the scrub-country round Aripu. 



1 do not know that it has been detected in the Jaffna peninsula, but it may possibly be found iu the 

 jungles near Elephant Pass. Passing over the Seven Korales and the Puttalam district, in which it is tolerably 

 plentiful, wc find it in the forests about Ambepussa and Avisawella, in the Raygam aud Hewagam Korales, in 

 Saffragam, the Pasduu and Kukkul Korales, and in the jungles between Galle and the " Haycock.''' In the 

 forest of Kottowe I never failed to notice it whenever I visited that place. In the Wellaway Korale and the 

 Friars-Hood Hills it is likewise tolerably frequent. As regards the Kandyan Province I think it is commoner 

 m I'va than elsewhere ; 1 have seen it from the Knuckles district, and have been told that it has occurred in 

 the main range at Kandapolla ; to such an elevated region, however, I should say it could only be a straggler 

 during the dry season, unless, indeed, it be a resident in Udu-pusselawa, from which it would naturally extend 

 to the jungles above the Elephant Plains. 



Habits. — The Ccylonese Hornbill is a shy bird, frequenting the tops of tall trees, and rarely descending 

 into the low jungle beneath them. In the lofty timber-forests of the south and west, therefore, it is difficult 

 to procure; but in the north, where the jungle is of altogether a different character (thick, with rather low 

 trees), it may easily be shot, as the dense wood conceals the sportsman, and the distance of the bird from him 

 is much less than when it is feeding in the top of some noble Keena-tree, or Aaing in the upper branches of a 

 gigantic Ilora. It generally consorts in troops of five or six and is very noisy, its note being a loud laugh, 

 commencing with the syllables ka-ka-ka,, slowly uttered, and then quickening into kakakaka. In the early 

 morning it roams about a good deal in search of fruit, but after feeding is not much on the wing. Its flight, 

 like that of the last species, is laboured and slow; it is a combination of flapping of the pinions and quick dips, 

 particularly when descending to alight on a tree. Its diet consists mainly of fruit, that of the Banyan, Bo, 

 wild cinnamon, and Dawata (Carallia integerrima) being much in favour with it; it also devours reptiles and 

 insects, for I have found green lizards and scorpions in the stomachs of some individuals. Its flesh is tender 

 and not distasteful, and when subjected to the usual jungle-test (curry), makes a meal which the hungry hunter 

 is far from despising; on such occasions it is always in great demand with one's Cingalese and Tamil servants. 



