88 BOMBAY DUCKS 
Here, then, among the hornbills, during the nesting 
season, is a division of labour as complete as that 
which prevails among human beings—the male goes 
forth and brings back food for his family, while the 
female stays at home and attends to domestic affairs, 
How this strange habit arose it is difficult to imagine. 
Its vaison @étre can scarcely be the protection of the 
female while sitting on her eggs, for her enormous beak 
is a weapon calculated to keep all raptorial birds at a 
respectful distance. It would almost seem as if the 
female hornbill is by nature a flighty young thing, a 
gad-about, and that consequenély her eggs, despite the 
admonitions of her husband, used to suffer. She, no 
doubt, tried to do her duty, but the attractions of the 
gay world round about her proved irresistible ; her spirit 
was willing, but her flesh was weak; consequently she 
and her spouse recognized that “durance vile” was the 
only remedy. 
Many weak-minded human beings pursue a similar 
policy. I once knew a man at Cambridge who could 
not bring himself to take sufficient exercise to keep his 
body in health, so he hit upon the plan of starting out 
with three shillings in his pocket, and taking a cab to 
the railway station, which cost him two of his shillings ; 
the last he used to spend on a third-class ticket to a 
station twelve miles out, and, once landed there, he had 
no option but to walk home. 
I wonder whether any one has ever shot a cock horn- 
bill at a time when his wife is plastered up in her nest. 
It would be a cruel but interesting experiment. What 
would the hen bird do when the cock failed to come 
