m 



TOCKUS GINGALENSIS. 



CEYLONESE GB.1T EOENBILL. 



Le Calao gingala, Le Vaill. Ois. Bares cPAmer. (1801) pi. 23. 

 Buceros gingala, Wilkes? Ency. Lond. (1808) vol. iii. p. 480. 

 Buceros gingalensis, Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1811) vol. viii. p. 37 ; Erseh u. Grub. Ency. (1821) p 282 • Temm Plan 



Col. (1824) vol. ii. p. 17; G. E. Gray, Gen. Birds (1849) vol. ii. p. 400. sp. 30; Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. Asiat'. 



Soc. (1849) p. 44. sp. 184; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1854) vol. xiii. p. 260; Sckleg. Mus. Pays-B 



(1862) p. 12; Gray, Hand-1. Birds (1870) pt. ii. p. 131. sp. 7918; Giebel, Tkes. Ornith. (1872) p. 499 

 Buceros gingala, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. (1816) vol. iv. p. 600 ; Dnmont, Diet. Sc. Nat. (1817) vol. vi. p. 214. 

 Buceros pyrrhopygus, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 18. 

 Tockus gingalensis, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 91. sp. 4; Blyth, Ibis (1867) p. 296; Holdsw. Proc Zool Soc 



(1872) p. 425 ; Legge, Ibis (1874) p. 14. 

 Rhinoplax gingalensis, Bon. Consp. Vol. Anisod. (1854) p. 3. 

 Buceros (Penelopides) gingalensis, Von Mart. Journ. fur Ornith. (1866) p. 18. 

 Toccus gingalensis, Jerd. Ibis (1872) p. 5. sp. 145. 



Hab. Ceylon, never Bengal (Blyth). 



The name of Buceros gingala was given to this species in the < Encyclopedia Londinensis/ 

 founded upon Le Vaillant's plate in his < Oiseaux Bares d'Amerique et des Indes.' As the author 

 of the ornithological part of the publication is not certainly known, the name cannot stand ; and 

 therefore that of Shaw, who described the bird as B. gingalensis, is the one that has priority. 



The Ceylonese Grey Hornbill has been more fortunate than many of its relatives ; for as most 

 writers have employed Shaw's name, there is not much confusion in its synonymy. It is restricted 

 to Ceylon, never having been found in Bengal, according to Blyth. My friend the late Dr. Jerdon, 

 in his i Birds of India/ confounded the species with its Indian ally, and spoke of both birds as T. 

 gingalensis. In ' The Ibis ' for 1872, p. 5, however, he corrected this error. In size and appear- 

 ance the two birds are not unlike, the chief differences between them being found, as is the case 

 with several allied species of Hornbills, in the markings and coloration of the tail-feathers. 



Layard states that " the Lesser ( Hornbill ' is common in the Wanny about Anarajahpoora and 

 in the Mookalane jungles of the southern provinces. It feeds, on the tops of the loftiest trees, upon 

 fruits and berries, which it swallows whole. It is a wary and shy bird ; and although its presence 

 is often revealed by its loud harsh call, it rarely falls before the hunter's gun ; and the best way to 

 procure it is to lie concealed near a tree in fruit, if it be such as it feeds upon. The hides are 

 reddish, and when partly hidden by the long stiff black eyelashes have a very peculiar appearance. 

 In some specimens the bill is white, with a black patch extending from the naked space round 



