HORNBILLS 177 



vary from a pure white to a creamy or salmon pink, sparingly 

 spotted with brown, pink or purplish. The photograph 

 depicts a nest on a hillside overlooking the Kowie River at 

 Port Alfred. 



The Square-tail ranges from Pondoland (where it was 

 procured by Sergeant Davies, C.M.R.) to Portuguese East 

 Africa, the Eastern Transvaal and Ehodesia. 



It is a shyer bird than its relative, keeping more to the 

 thicker bush, and is not attracted by grass fires. 



It builds a more solid structure than the Fork-tail, lichen 

 forming the bulk of the material used, but the eggs do not 

 vary to the same extent as those of the afer. 



HORNBILLS 



Of the family of HornbUls {Bucerotidce) two genera are 

 forest-loving birds, the first representative being the Trum- 

 peter Hornbill {Bycanistes huccinator). This bird is black 

 with a greenish sheen above ; the rump, upper tail-coverts 

 and lower breast white ; the beak is ornamented with an 

 enormous casque, the upper edge of which almost reaches 

 to a level with the tip of the beak. Length, 26 to 27 

 inches. 



The Crowned Hornbill (Lophoceros melanoleucus) is the 

 best known member of the family in the bush districts of 

 the Cape, where it generally assembles in parties of from 

 six to twenty individuals during the winter months, visiting 

 the towns and feeding on late fruit and insects turned up 

 in the cultivation of ground. 



They do an amount of good by feeding upon locusts and 

 caterpillars, but as they do some harm to fruit, especially 



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