PHOLIDOPHALUS FISTULATOR 



CASSIFS HOBNBILL. 



Buceros fistulator, Cass. Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil. (1850) p. 68; Hartl. Journ. fur Ornith. (1854) p. 127. 

 sp. 389; J. & E. Verr. Rev. Mag. Zool. (1855) p. 175; Hartl. Ornith. West-Afr. (1857) p. 162; Hein. Journ. 

 fur Ornith. (1860) p. 188. sp. 151; Schleg. Mus. Pays-B. (1862) p. 16; Sharpe, Ibis (1872) p. 67; Giebel, 

 Thesaur. Ornith. (1872) p. 498; Bocage, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1873) p. 702; Elliot, Ibis (1873) p. 179. 



Buceros leucostigma, Temm. Mus. Lugd. 



Tmetoceros fistulator , Bon. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 2. 



Buceros {Bycanistes) fistulator, Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1870) ii. p. 131. sp. 7913. 



Hab. Fantee (Sharpe) ; Senegal to the Gaboon (Verreaux) . 



But little has been recorded of the habits and economy of this species. It was first described 

 by Mr. Cassin, in the ' Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences/ in 1850, from an 

 immature specimen. In the * Revue et Magasin de Zoologie ' MM. E. and J. Verreaux give 

 the following short account of this bird as observed by them in Africa :— " We notice that in 

 this species the male is always distinguished, not only by its greater size, but also by the bill, which 

 is larger and heavier, and which varies considerably, before attaining its full development, as is the 

 case in most of the species. The present bird, which is quite abundant at the Gaboon, is also 

 found upon the greater part of the coast as far as Senegal, wherever the forests afford it sufficient 

 shelter and abundant nourishment, which last consists of insects, larvae, often even berries. It 

 does not refuse young birds, which it seeks in their nests. Generally it is found in pairs. The 

 cry is strong, heard throughout the morning and evening, and just before rain. The females 

 deposit their eggs in the holes of trees to the number of two ; we do not know their colour, our 

 hunter having only found the young in October, which, with the exception of the size of the bill, 

 resembled their parents in every particular. During the heat of the day these birds perch in the 

 thickets, and remain quiet ; but they pass the night in the holes which they have chosen, and to 

 which they always return." 



The P. fistulator, and the bird which I have named P. sharjpii, by not possessing upright 

 casques like the other African species to which they are related, apparently require a distinct 

 generic term; and therefore I propose for them that of Pholidophalus*, or scaly helmet, their low 

 casques seeming to be composed of flattened scales overlapping each other. 



Bill has the culmen covered on its basal half by a low casque, deeply ridged transversely. 

 Head, neck, back, and wings black, with a greenish lustre. Underparts white. Secondaries black, 

 except for about an inch and a half from their ends, which are white. Tail black, the lateral 

 feathers with a narrow line at their bases, and their apical third white. 



Total length 21 J inches, wing 11, tail 9J ; bill 4, height at base 2 inches. 



I am indebted to Captain Shelley for the male figured in the Plate, loaned from his collection, 

 and to Mr. E. B. Sharpe for the female. 



* <po\is, scale ; 0a\os, helmet. 



MJ 



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