CATALOGUE. 
£89' 
Captain Tickell states : " These birds were very common in all the 
more open and large-timbered spaces in the jungles of Borabhiim, 
frequenting in preference the Pipul-trees, the berry of which forms 
their principal food. The young continue with the parent birds for 
many months after leaving the nest ; hence these Hornbills are 
generally met traversing the forests in flocks of eight or ten. They 
are shy and wary, and the voice loud, clanging, and harsh. The 
horn is not developed till after the first year. These birds are never 
met with in the high rocky lands, nor in the barren tracts of saul- 
jungle, but abound in the rich meadows composing the valley of the 
Subonrika.'* 
" In Ceylon,'* remarks Mr. Layard, " I have observed this species 
at Tangalle and near St. Pedro, It generally flies in large flocks, and 
seeks much of its subsistence on . the ground ; in such situations, I 
never could detect what it sought ; but on trees it feeds upon berries 
and fruits. To procure the latter, when attached to a branch, it 
resorts to an odd expedient, — the coveted morsel is seized in its 
powerful bill, and the bird throws itself from its perch, twisting and 
flapping its wings until the fruit is detached : on this, the wings are 
extended, the descent arrested, and the bird regains its footing ; the 
head is now thrown back, and the food allowed to fall into the throat, 
and swallowed without mastication. A live bird which I had for some 
time in my possession used its bill for the purpose of recovering its 
perch, as a parrot would do, with this exception, that the Buceros 
employed the whole of the bill, hooking on by the under side of the 
lower mandible, while the parrot uses the upper mandible. I have 
been credibly informed that, during the season of incubation, the 
male bird incloses the female in the hollow tree selected for the 
reception of the nest with a waU of mud, as a defence against the 
monkey tribes, who certainly would need more than ordinary courage 
to attack a fortress defended by such a formidable weapon as the 
powerful bill of the bird. The cock bird assiduously provides for his 
imprisoned partner, feeding her through an aperture left for the pur- 
pose ; and when the young are excluded, breaks down the wall and 
sets her free to assist him in satisfying the increased demand upon 
his parental energies." 
870. HYDHOCISSA ALBIBOSTEIS, Shaw Sp. 
Buceros albirostris, Shaw^ Zool. YIII. p. 13 (1811). 
{Le Vaill., Ois. d'Amer. et Ind. t. 14.) Blyth, J. 
A, S. Beng, XII. p. 995; XVI. p. 994; XVIII. 
VOL. II. t 
