90 BOMBAY DUCKS 
weight. During flight the wings of this hornbill, like 
those of most of its species, make a tremendous noise. 
Wallace compares it to the puffing of a steam-engine 
when starting with a train; that the simile is not exag- 
gerated may be judged by the fact that a flying hornbill 
can be heard a mile away. 
The voice of the hornbill is quite in keeping with the 
rest of the bird. There exist certain toys with which 
every one is familiar. Each takes the form of a clay 
figure representing some animal. This is highly coloured, 
and is placed on a miniature concertina, When the 
concertina-pedestal is pressed a horrible squeak is pro- 
duced, which is apparently intended to represent the 
voice of fhe animal. It is only necessary to imagine 
such a toy over two feet in length, with a two-feet 
square concertina, in order to arrive at the voice of the 
Bengal pied hornbill, a bird found in the sub-Hima- 
layan forests. When a hornbill talks it puts body and 
soul into its vocal efforts, its tail vibrates with each note, 
just as that of a crow does at every “squawk.” 
Hornbills have eyelashes, a very unusual feature in 
birds. This accounts in part for the knowing, comical 
look of the creatures. 
It is needless to say that these birds cannot eat their 
food without buffoonery. They live chiefly on fruit, but 
they will eat insects, lizards, fish, and even scorpions ; 
each morsel of food that is picked up is tossed into the 
air and caught in the huge beak! 
Books on natural history state that hornbills are very 
shy, retiring birds. This has not been my experience, 
Recently, when I was sitting in a machan, waiting for a 
