BUCEBOTIDiE LOPHOCBEOS 115 



Length about 18'0 ; wing 8-3 ; tail B-O ; culmen with casque 3-1, 

 without 1-25 ; tarsus 1'25. 



A female is sioailar in plumage but slightly smaller (wing 7-5) ; 

 the bill also is smaller ; there is no casque, the distal portion is red, 

 the base of the upper mandible pale yellow, the lower, black with 

 three diagonal yellow streaks. 



In a young bird the upper mandible is tawny-white except the 

 tip, which with the lower mandible is reddish-brown (Ayres). 



Distribution. — The type of this species was obtained by the 

 Swedish traveller Wahlberg in lat. 24° S., probably in the neighbour- 

 hood of the upper Limpopo, as the bird is not found south of the 

 Vaal river. It is spread through the bush country of the Transvaal 

 to Damaraland, Mashonaland and Zululand. North of our limits 

 it extends to Angola, Nyasaland and German east Africa. It is 

 replaced in west and north-east Africa by a very closely-allied 

 species, which only differs in being without the casque on the beak. 



The following are recorded localities : Zululand — Ulundi 

 (Woodward) ; Transvaal— Lydenburg dist. (Francis in S. A. Mus.), 

 Eustenburg (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland — Kanye (Exton), Mangwato, 

 (Buckley) ; Ehodesia — Victoria Falls (Holub), Mashonaland 

 common (Marshall) ; German south-west Africa — Ovanquenyama, 

 Ondonga, and Otjimbinque (Andersson in Bt. Mus. and S. A. 

 Mus.), Sesheke (Holub) ; Portuguese east Africa — Zambesi, rare 

 (Alexander). 



Habits. — The Grey Hornbill is usually found in small companies 

 of about half a dozen birds ; it roosts at night and rests during the 

 day in large trees if they are available, and usually selects a branch 

 for this purpose about half-way up rather than one of the topmost 

 ones. Its flight is a dipping one, consisting of alternate periods of 

 rising with flapping wings, and a floating through the air without 

 movement of the wings. This bird feeds on fruits, seeds, young 

 shoots, as well as on insects of all sorts, and often descends to the 

 ground, probably to get the insect portion of its meals. It has 

 a shrill mewing cry, generally heard when on the wing ; Ayres states 

 that it has also a sweet song like that of a thrush, but it seems 

 probable that Ayres was mistaken in this matter. Andersson states 

 that in common with the rest of the genus it appears to suffer very 

 much from heat during the most trying season of the year, when 

 it may be found perching at noon in the shadiest part of the forest 

 gasping as if for breath. No observations have hitherto been made 

 on its nesting habits. 



