164 
POPULAE HISTOEY OF BIEDS. 
Archipelago, that the heads of a species of hornbill {Buceros 
pUcatus) were strung together by the natives and used as 
an ornament^. 
Mr. Edgar L. Layardf, who is familiar with the manners 
of two species of Cingalese hornbills, alludes to their habits. 
The Buceros Pica is often seen on the ground in grass-land 
in Ceylon, and he supposed that it was looking for some 
small mammal. These birds, in flying, strike the air seve- 
ral heavy strokes with their wings, and then, stretching 
them out, sail for several yards, when another flap is re- 
quired, the head and monstrous casque thrown as much i 
forward as their long necks will permit. They always fly in 
flock, generally in line, uttering their harsh, discordant cries, 
which may be heard for upwards of a mile."'^ The natives 
assured him that their mode of plucking fruit from the trees 
was to seize hold of it, and then throwing themselves off, 
they turn and twist in the air till the fruit is wrenched 
off, when they alight, toss up the fruit, catch it in their 
beak, and swallow it whole. The bird is also said by the 
natives to build in holes in trees, and when incubation 
has commenced, the male fastens up the hole by which the 
_^ Voyage of Rattlesnake, vol. i. p. 283. 
t Rambles in Ceylon, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1853, p. 234. 
