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RHINOPLAX VIGIL 



HELMETED HOENBILL 



! 





Buceros vigil, J. B. Forster, Zoolog. Indica (1781) p. 40. 

 Helmeted Hornbill, Lath. Gen. Syn. (1781) p. 343. sp. 2. 

 Buceros scutatus, Bodd. Tab. PI. Enlum. d'Aubent. (1783) sp. 933, p. 55 • G. R. Gray, Gen. Birds (1846) vol. ii. 



p. 399. sp. 17; Giebel, Thesanr. Ornith. (1872) p. 503. 

 Calao a casque rond, Buff. PL Enlum. (1783) no. 933 (head). 

 Buceros galeatus, Gmel. ed. Linn. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. p. 360; Lath. Ind. Ornith. (1790) vol. i. p. 142; Shaw, 



Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. p. 24; Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. (1816) vol. iv. p. 593; Dumont,. Diet. Se. 



Nat. (1817) p. 204; Vieill. Enc. Meth. (1823) p. 301; Temm. PI. Col. (1824) vol. ii. sp. 7 (text) ; Ersch u. 



Gruber, Enc. (1824) p. 284; Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 4; Less. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 256. sp. 18; 



Begbie, Malay Penin. (1834) p. 513; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. Asiat. Soc. (1849) p. 45. sp. 192; Schleg. Mus. 



Pays-Bas (1862) p. 1. sp. 1. 

 Rhinoplax scutatus, Glog. Hand- und Hilfsb. (1842) p. 335 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E.-Ind. Co. (1856-8^ 



vol. ii. p. 581. no. 866; Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1859) p. 446. 

 Buceroturus galeatus, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 89. sp. 1 ; id. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 2. 

 Buceros {Rhinoplax) scutatus, G. R. Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1870) part ii, p. 130. sp. 7908. 



Hab. Malayan peninsula and archipelago (Blyth) ; Borneo, Sumatra (Schlegel). 



Forster, in his ' Zoologia Indica ' (1781), gave the name of vigil to this bird, founded upon 

 the bill figured in Edwards's ( Birds/ plate 281c, and thus antedated Boddaert by two years. 



This extraordinary bird is remarkable even among the unusual forms met with amid the 

 members of the Bucerotidae. Not only does it possess a large bill and casque, but, unlike all the 

 other species, this latter structure, instead of being hollow, is perfectly solid. This fact causes it 

 to be quite heavy ; and a blow from the bill of a full-grown male upon a man's head might easily 

 produce very serious, if not fatal, results. For what especial reason this bird is endowed with the 

 solid casque has not yet been ascertained : but it is probably for detaching bark or fruit from the 

 trees ; for it would have nearly as great an effect when struck against any object as a blow from a 

 hammer in the hands of a man. Another peculiar character possessed alone by this species 

 among the Hornbills is the great length of the two median rectrices, which extend for a 

 considerable distance beyond the rest of the feathers of the tail. With its bony casque, bare neck, 

 and lengthened tail it seems fairly to be entitled to a distinct generic rank ; and I have therefore 

 retained for it the term Rhinojplax;, first proposed by Gloger in 1842. Nothing is known of its 

 economy or habits. 



Male. — Bill straight, pointed, yellow, brick-red at base. About midway on the culmen rises 

 a solid bony casque, orange-red on its anterior half, brick-red for the remainder, wide on its 

 anterior face, curved on top, to which it narrows from the sides, but is nowhere compressed, 







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