HORNBILLS. 
163 
head, cushioned upon the feathers of the back. Thus it re- 
poses in a comfortable 'nook, with the bill so directed as to 
coincide with the axis of the body, and all preponderant 
disposition to bend forward is obviated. . . . The voice is 
composed of the transient blast of a bugle, and the sudden 
hiss of an exploding sky-rocket.^^ He adds, that it seems 
to utter these calls periodically, without any obvious reason, 
as if to relieve the monotony of its still and melancholy habit. 
Major Denham"^ got from the sheikh at Kouka three 
Abyssinian hornbills. In that part of Africa they are very 
scarce and much esteemed, as their flesh is used as medicine 
in many disorders, particularly for an enlargement of the 
spleen : it is placed hot to the part affected. This species 
was reported to the African traveller to be fond of insects, 
fish, snakes, and serpents, and to have a particular instinct 
for discovering snakes. " This bird discovers their vicinity 
while yet many feet under ground, digs on the spot, de- 
stroys the nest, and feeds on the venomous inhabitant and its 
eggs/^ The specimens brought to the Major, though larger 
than a turkey, were so young as to be unable to walk. Mr. 
Macgillivray observed, in one of the islands of the Louisiade 
* Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, vol. ii. p. 205 
(small edition). 
