PHOLIDOPHALUS CASUARINUS. 



GEAT'S HOENBIIL. 



Buceros casuarinus, G. It. Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1871) vol. viii. pp. 437, 438, pi. xvii. 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. (1873) p. 703. 



Barb, du Boc 



Hab. 



This form, described by Gray from a bead in the British Museum, although bearing evidence 

 of belonging to a fully adult individual, appears to have a stunted abnormal casque, which, 

 perhaps, may have been injured in some way when the bird was young. The casque, and mandible 

 at its base, are deeply grooved diagonally ; and the cutting-edges of both maxilla and mandible 

 are broken, which is only seen in adult birds. It is impossible to say whether or not the 

 specimen belongs to one of the known species or is a new form, as but a small bunch of feathers 

 remains attached to the head. It is evidently closely allied to the subgroup which contains 

 P. fistulator and P. sharpii, and may possibly be one of those species. Mr. Gray's description 

 of this head is as follows : — " Bill broad at base, laterally compressed at the tip ; casque elevated 

 posteriorly and extending somewhat backwards over the eyes, rather compressed along the 

 culmen, which is flat and grooved along the middle for two thirds of its length ; the sides of the 

 casque shelving to the nasal channel, and furnished with six deep oblique grooves ; the sides 

 below the former are comparatively smooth, and with three apparent scales near the eyes ; the 

 nostrils are large, and deeply imbedded in a broad channel, which runs along the sides of the 

 maxilla for about two thirds of its length, in which they are situated at its base ; the mandible 

 has the gonys long and curved to the tip, the sides are furnished with four very obliquely placed 

 grooves, advancing towards each other beneath the gonys ; the margins of both mandibles are 

 dentated in the middle. The length from the upper part of the base of the casque to the tip of 

 the maxilla is five inches and three lines." 





