HYDROCORAX PLANICORNIS 



FLAT-CASQUE HOBNBILL 



Buceros hydrocorax, Linn. Syst. Nat. (1766) vol. i. p. 153; Grmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. p. 359 ; Lath. Ind. 



Ornith. (1790) vol. i. p. 144; id. Gen. Syn. (1790) vol. i. p. 351. sp. 7, 2nd Suppl. (1801) p. 100; Shaw, 



Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. p. 31 ; Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. (1816) vol. iv. p. 597; id. Ency. Meth. 



(1823) p. 304; Temm. Planch. Col. (1824) vol. ii. sp. 6 (text) ; Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 7; Less. Trait. 



Ornith. (1831) p. 254. sp. 10 ; G. B. Gray, Gen. Birds (1849) vol. ii. p. 399. sp. 15 ; Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. 



Asiat. Soc. (1849) p. 43. sp. 176; Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 89. sp. 1; Schleg. Mus. Pays-B. (1862) 



p. 2 ; Von Mart. Journ. fur Ornith. (1866) p. 18; Giebel, Thesaur. Ornith. (1872) p. 499; Wald. Trans. Zool. 



Soc. (1873) vol. ix. p. 164. 

 Calao des Moluques, Buff. Plan. Enlum. (1783) no. 283. 



Buceros planicornis, Merrern, Ersch u. Grub. Ency. (1824) p. 287; Bon. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 184. 

 Buceros platyrhynchus, Pears. Jour. Asiat. Soc. Beng. (1841) p. 652. 

 Hydrocorax planicornis, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 2. gen. 8. sp. 18. 

 Platyceros hydrocorax, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. (1860) Th. ii. p. 174. no. 478. 

 Buceros {Hydrocorax) hydrocorax, G. B,. Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1870) pt. ii. p. 128. sp. 7884. 





Hab. Moluccas (Blyth) ; Philippines (Schlegel). 



This remarkable species was one of the few described by Linnaeus in bis ' Systema Natura?,' 

 and is a native of the Moluccas and also the Philippine Islands. In the shape of its casque it is 

 nearest allied to D. bicornis, but differs so materially both from that species and all others of 

 the family, that it does not seem inappropriate to retain it in a separate genus by itself. Brisson, 

 in his ' Ornithologie ' (1760) vol. iv. p. 565, instituted his genus Hydrocorax for this species ; 

 Cabanis and Heine, in 1860, also proposed the generic term 'Platyceros. Although Brisson is not 

 deemed an authority for species, his genera have usually been employed in ornithology, and I 

 have therefore retained his term to the exclusion of the later one by Cabanis. But little is known 

 of the habits and economy of this bird, its habitat being one not often penetrated by Europeans, 

 even Mr. Wallace, the most eminent of the naturalists who have visited portions of the country 

 in which it is found, having had but little to relate concerning it. This is perhaps more to be 

 wondered at as it must be a very conspicuous object in its native woods, and it could not move 

 from one tree to another without betraying itself by the noise of its wings, which has been com- 

 pared to the puffing of a locomotive just starting with a train. 



Bill brick-red ; a broad flat casque extends from about one third the length of the maxilla 

 from its point, along the culmen, increasing in width on its upper surface, and projects over the 

 head to behind the eyes ; this, like the bill, is brick-red, darkest on its sides. Front, cheeks, and 

 chin black. Head, neck, and upper part of breast chestnut-red. Lower part of the throat white. 





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