1843.] Mr. BlytKs Report for December Meeting, 1842. 997 



New World, (very much more than the Toucans, which are far more 

 closely related to the Barbets,) is provided with an efficient serrature 

 to both mandibles, by means of which the species nibble away the 

 web of their middle tail-feathers at that part so closely, that it some- 

 times requires a magnifier to perceive that the truncation is artificial ; 

 still it does not appear that this can be cited among the tokens of 

 affinity which connect Buceros and Priorities, for in other birds 

 having the same form of tail, which exhibit no particular affinity for 

 these Syndactyli, as Crypsirina for instance, the same nibbling of 

 that part is frequently apparent. 



Having mentioned B. galeatus, I am induced to add, that observa- 

 tion of the habits of this species, more than of any other, is likely to 

 acquaint us with the intent of that rostral appendage for which most 

 of the members of this genus are so remarkable. B. galeatus has a 

 short and nearly straight, and thus powerful, beak, and its casque has 

 a mass of solid bone anteriorly, to which no other species appears to 

 offer the slightest approach : now this must be for work of some kind, 

 requiring extraordinary protection for the forehead; and other species 

 constantly wear the casque away in front, by some means : moreover, 

 in seeming reference to the liability of the excrescence to detach 

 particles from above, the eyes of these birds are protected by Very 

 stout lashes, as is also the case with the Crotophagce of tropical 

 America, which have likewise a rostral protuberance very similar to 

 that of several of the smaller Hornbills ; but the lashes are equally 

 found in those Hornbills which have the appendage small or altogether 

 wanting, as well as in the Coucals ( Centropus ) and various other 

 Cuculidce additional to Crotophaga : the presence of eye-lashes is, 

 however, very rare in the class of Birds, the only other groups which 

 I remember as possessing them being the Raptores generally (which 

 have slight lashes), the Cursores or Ostrich group, and that extremely 

 remarkable and isolated American bird the Hoazin ( Opisthocomus ) , 

 which can be approximated to nothing else. 



Another peculiarity of the Helmeted Hornbill is its naked neck and 

 interscapulary region, which, added to its short beak, and solid-fronted 

 casque, and the extraordinary length of its middle tail-feathers, seems 

 to indicate this bird as a subgeneric form of Buceros, quite as distinct in 

 the Bucorvus of Lesson founded on the long-legged Abyssinian species. 



6 Q 



