162 
POPULAR HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
seen hornbills in captivity : their dullness at Knowsley was 
in strange contrast with the liveliness of their neighbour, 
the toucan. 
While at Nanning, a town about sixteen miles from Ma- 
lacca, Mr. G. Tradescant Lay"^ saw a young Concave Horn- 
bill [Buceros cavatiis). The bill, though large, had not yet 
attained its full growth ; nor had it yet the appendage that 
surmounts it near the point of junction with the head. He 
observed that the bill could be moved as freely as if it had 
been only one-half the size. He admired the adroitness 
with which it disposed of a plantain, five or six inches long, 
and an inch thick. He says : — As it swallows the food 
without division, strength is not therefore required ; its food 
is often massy, hence the convenience of large mandibles. 
If however we cannot account for the height of the bill, and 
the entablature with which it is crowned, except by saying 
that it is an ornament, or intended to give a resonance to 
the voice, we can show that its Maker has not forgotten 
to provide against the inconvenience of having so great a 
weight stretching the muscles by which the head is kept 
erect. The wings have the upper edges so advanced that 
a hollow is formed between them, and in this rests the 
* Voyage of the Himmaleli, vol. ii. p. 238. 
