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BUCORVUS PYRRHOPS. 



EED-FACED GEOUND-HOENBILL, 



Bucorvus pyrrhops, Elliot, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (September 1877) vol. xx. p. 171. 

 Hab. Region of the Congo, Cachen ? 



In my article on Bucorvus abyssinicus I placed as races the two forms of Ground-Hornbills 

 called respectively by Prof. Schlegel Buceros carunculatus guineensis and B. carunculatus cafer. 

 Subsequent to the publication of the Part which contained B. abyssinicus, Mr. Keulemans 

 sent me a sketch of the head and neck of a Ground-Hornbill which he had met with in the 

 Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam, that differed from any thing I had ever seen as regarded the 

 shape and coloration of the bare skin of the head and neck, as well as in the form of the casque. 

 The bird was fully adult, and had been received, as I was informed by Mons. A. von Bemmelen, 

 the Director of the Rotterdam Gardens, from the region of the river Congo. Satisfied that the 

 individual represented an unknown species, I described it in the 6 Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History/ as given above. The only form of Ground Hornbill that has received a name 

 with which the present can be compared, is the B. carunculatus guineensis, Schlegel. The type 

 of this last-named style is an immature bird; that is to say, the casque is not more than half 

 developed; yet even now the greatly curved form of the upper outline is plainly discernible, 

 showing that when the casque has attained its full growth it will not differ in shape from that of 

 the well-known B. abyssinicus. Prof. Schlegel, when writing to me lately about these birds, gave 

 in his letter the comparative differences which he observed in the separate forms named by him ; 

 and he thus distinguishes guineensis :—" Casque as in abyssinicus, but the whole bird smaller, 

 plaque light brown." The difference of size is hardly sufficient to constitute a specific difference; 

 and I therefore regard B. guineensis, Schlegel, as properly a synonym of the B. abyssinicus. 

 This therefore reduces the number of Ground-Hornbills to three species instead of four, as given 

 by me in the table accompanying the description of the present species in the ' Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History.' By the kindness of Prof. Barboza du Bocage I am in possession 

 of a sketch of the head of a Ground-Hornbill, received at the Lisbon Museum from Cachen, West 

 Africa, referred by the Professor to B. guineensis, Schlegel. The head is unfortunately that of a 

 young bird ; but the casque, although already open in front, has its upper outline nearly straight, 

 as is seen in B. pyrrhops, and of quite a different form from that exhibited by the type of 

 B. guineensis, Schlegel. I am inclined to consider this bird the young of B. pyrrhops. The 

 present species differs from all others of this genus in the shape of its casque, which is nearly 

 straight above, with a large opening in front, somewhat resembling a neur-de-lys in outline. The 







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