CRANORRHINUS CASSIDIX. 



CELEBES HOENBILL. 



Buceros cassidix, Temm. Planch. Col. vol. ii. pi. 210 ; Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 3; Griff. Anim. King. (1829) 



vol. ii. p. 434, pi. j Less. Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 253. sp. 6; id. Man. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 105; Mull. & Schleg. 



Verh. Geschied. Nederl. Ind. (1839-44) p. 24; G. E, Gray, Gen. Birds (1849) vol. ii. p. 399. sp. 22; Schleg. 



Mus. Pays-B. (1862) p. 9; Gieb. Thesanr. Ornith. (1872) p. 497. 

 Calao cassidix, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 90. sp. 1. 

 Cassidix cassidix, Bon. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 3. gen. 10. sp. 27. 

 Cranorrhinus cassidix, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. (1860) Th. ii. p. 173. no. 476; Wald. Trans. Zool. Soc. (1872) 



vol. viii. p. 47. sp. 58. 

 Buceros {Cranorrhinus) cassidix, G. R. Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1870) pt. ii. p. 129. sp. 7889. 



Hab. Celebes : Tondano (Reinwardt) ; Menado (Walden); District of Maros, Macassar (Wallace). 



In the eighth volume of the i Transactions of the Zoological Society,' in his paper on the 

 birds of Celehes, Lord Walden gives woodcuts of the heads of the adult and young of hoth sexes 

 of the species, illustrating the development of the casque. This in the young male is very much 

 swollen posteriorly, hut slopes rapidly forwards to the culmen, forming a graceful curve. The 

 mandibles are quite smooth. In another, rather older individual, the casque has taken somewhat 

 the form of the adult's, and is upright at its anterior end, and more separated from the culmen 

 along its lower line. The base of the mandibles is covered by a plate ; but there are no grooves. 

 In the adult male the casque is nearly of the same thickness throughout, being less compressed, 

 anteriorly and less swollen posteriorly, while it inclines anteriorly to the culmen by an acute 

 angle. The casque possesses several distinct undulations. The base of the mandibles is grooved 

 deeply, diagonally, forming two folds on the maxilla, and three on the mandible. The cutting- 

 edges of the bill are much broken on their anterior half. The adult female has a similar casque, 

 but smaller ; the anterior edge stands at a right angle to the culmen, and the grooves on the 

 mandibles form three folds on each. The bill appears to increase in length, even after the wings 

 and tail have become fully grown. 



Of the economy and habits of this fine species, I have not been able to find much recorded. 

 Mr. Wallace met with it during his sojourn in Celebes ; and from his observations it would appear 

 to eat insects ; for he states that he has taken fragments of large long-horned Batocerce from the 

 gullet of individuals, and once he saw a C. cassidix capture one of these insects, beat it repeatedly 

 against a branch, and then swallow it. In flying, like other members of this family, it makes a 

 great noise with its wings. 



Male. Bill large, curved, orange-yellow, except the basal portion, which is dark red and 



< I! 



