292 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 3 . 



I doubt if this refers to the ' Jungle Sheep' of Madras sportsmen (what Mr. 

 Ogilby very naturally concluded the Nilgiri ' Ibex' to be), which is no other 

 than the Muntjac, the Kdkur or ' Barking Deer' of Himalayan sportsmen, 

 and the ' Red Deer' of those of Ceylon ! As an article of provender, Mr.Ba- 

 ker remarks, that " a quarter of ' Ibex,' hung as the country people in the 

 mountains do at home, within a wire or muslin bag and exposed to the air, 

 is equal to Welsh mutton." We have now to ascertain what the reputed 

 * wild Sheep' of the highlands of Madura is intended to mean : in all pro- 

 bability our present animal, rather than any other. 



AVES. 



Of birds, we are indebted to Mr. Baker for a few specimens, among 

 them being the head of a young Buceros cavatus, and a good skin of B. 

 gingalensis. He enumerates the four species of Hornbill that inhabit 

 the peninsula of India, viz. cavatus, pica, birostris, and gingalensis ; 

 and remarks that " in all, the female is shut up with the eggs, and 

 plasters up the entrance to the nest with its ordure [?~\ : the male feeds 

 both mother and young. A few days since I took the mother (B. ginga- 

 lensis) out of its hole ; it had stripped most of the feathers off its breast, 

 was very weak, and had three white eggs.* The roar of the cavatus 

 I have often noticed strangers to the forest to be so alarmed at, as to fly 

 as if from some terrible enemy. 



" The habits of the Hornbills are very similar to those of the South 

 American Toucans. A friend had a large tame cavatus : it watched a 

 female terrier that had young, and in two days managed to steal and 

 swallow three pups during her absence. Its usual food was rice and plan- 

 tains." It is curious to see them feed on boiled rice. A large cavatus 

 will pick it up grain by grain, and successively toss each grain into the 

 air and catch it in its throat. This I have often witnessed. 



The other bird-skins sent are Megalaima viridis, Oxylophus jaco- 

 binus, Dendrocitta leucogastra, Myiophonus Horsfieldi, Brachy- 

 urus triostegus, Merula nigropileus, Geocichla cyanotus, Tchi- 

 trea paradisi, dlcrurus longicaudatus, chalcophaps indicus, and 

 Gallus Sonneratii. 



Examples also of the gigantic Spider, Mygale avicularia ; which, 

 Mr. Baker remarks, is " common in the hills. They live among stones 

 and old bark, and are really savage creatures and poisonous too, being 

 easily excited, when they spring upon an exposed limb and bury the fangs 

 in the flesh in an instant. I have seen cases followed by fever and much 

 inflammation. The Tamil name is Telia mundalumP 



* Vide also Tickell, in J. A. S. XXIV, 279 ; and Dr. Livingstone. 



