GROUND HORNBILL 335 



also has a habit of chattering his beak in a fashion 

 which recalls a similar trick practised by the 

 marabou stork. Nothing assimilable comes amiss 

 to this extraordinary creature. Small animals, 

 young birds, insects, out-of-date meat, snakes, all 

 these and much more he impales with his long 

 sharp beak, jerks neatly into the air, and skilfully 

 catches in his capacious throat, shaking his head 

 thereafter with an air of profound dejection. 

 Ground hornbills become so tame, and are 

 possessed of such an amazing degree of in- 

 telligence, as to recognize readily persons to whom 

 they become attached. They also learn to answer 

 their names, and readily acquire various unusual 

 accomplishments, such as placing the head under 

 a wing and simulating slumber, raising and 

 putting down their feet by word of command, and 

 several others. They are rather trying by reason 

 of the fascination which glittering objects such 

 as spoons, forks, and articles of table silver 

 generally have for them — a friend of mine who 

 lost in this way a valuable jewelled sleeve-link 

 being a lamentable example of this larcenous 

 tendency. But their lives seem to be over- 

 shadowed by the very genius of gloom, and to 

 attempt to describe a ground hornbill who ap- 

 peared to be satisfied with life would be as 

 difficult as to try to portray a hornpipe executed 

 by undertakers. 



Nothing gives one more sporting shooting 

 than the ever-present turtle-dove, and nothing 

 affords more excellent material for a really meri- 

 torious ragout. These delightful little creatures, 



