CHAPTER XVII. 



BURROWING BIRDS— (CONTINUED.) 



Nesting of the HornWUs — Dr. Livingstoue's account of the KoRw£, or Eed- 

 BREASTED HoRNBiLL — The LoNG-TAlLED TlTMOUSE— Its general habits— Its 

 use to the gardener — Number of the young — Form and materials of the nest — 

 Localities chosen by the bird— How to prepare the fragile eggs — The Magpie 

 — Its domed and fortified nest — The common Ween and its nest — Pseudo-nests 

 and their probable origin — The Hottse Wren of America — Its habits and mode 

 of nesting — Wilson's account of the bird — Its usefulness and quarrelsome nature 

 — The Lyre Bird— Origin of its name— Its domed nest — The Albert's Lyre 

 Bird and its habits — The Bower Bird — Why so called — Civilization and 

 social amusement — The remarkable bower — Its materials and mode of con- 

 struction — Use to which it is put — The Bower Birds in the Zoological Gardens, 

 and their habits — Love of ornament — Meaning of the scientific name — The 

 Spotted Bower Bied of New South Wales — Its bower — Description of the 

 birds and their place in the present system. 



The reader may remember that in the account of the toucan and 

 its semi-burrowing mode of nesting, it was mentioned that the 

 bird was sometimes in the habit of closing the aperture of its 

 nest with mud. It is a very remarkable fact that both groups 

 of large-billed birds should possess the same habit, and that the 

 HoRNBiLL of Africa should close its nest with mud like the 

 toucan of tropical America. These groups of birds are somewhat 

 similar in external appearance, the huge beak giving them a 

 kind of family likeness. They are, however, widely distinct in 

 zoological systems, the toucans belonging to the scansorial, or 

 climbing birds, and the hombills ranking with the touracos, 

 plantain- eaters, and colies. 



Like the toucan, the Hombill makes its nest in the hole of 

 some decaying tree, and one of the species, at all events, seems 

 invariably to reduce the size of the entrance by plastering it up 

 with mud, and leaving only a very little aperture. The following 

 interesting account of the Hornbill and its nest is quoted from 

 Dr. Livingstone's well-known work. 



" We passed through large tracts of Mopane country, and my 

 men caught a great many of the birds called KoRwt (Tockus 

 erythorJiynchus) in their hiding-places, which were in holes in 



