I 
THE HORNBILL'S NEST. 231 
bowers; and, half-concealed among the leafage, sit motionless upon the 
branches, until near the close of the day, when they sally forth in 
quest of their insect-food. 
Mr. Wallace, during a visit to Sumatra, came one day, in the course 
of his rambles, to a large tree leaning over some water. On its lower 
side, at a height of about twenty feet, appeared a small hole, and a 
quantity of mud which had been used for plastering it up. Listening 
intently, he soon heard the harsh cry of a bird inside, and in a minute 
or two the white extremity of the beak was projected. He offered a 
reward to any native who would climb the tree and secure the bird, 
with her egg or nestling; but all declared this was too difficult, and 
that they were afraid to try. He therefore left the spot. But, an 
hour afterwards, to his great surprise he heard a tremendously loud 
screaming, and the bird, together vsdth a young one found in the same 
hole, was placed at his feet. The youngster proved to be a curious 
object, as large as a pigeon, and absolutely bare of plumage. It was 
exceedingly plump and soft, and, with a semi-transparent skin, looked 
not unlike a bag of jelly to which head and feet had been attached. 
The curious custom of the male, to plaster up his spouse and her 
egg and feed her during the whole period of incubation, — indeed, 
until the young one is fully fledged, — is common to several species 
of the hornbills, as well as to the liornrays, of which we shall speak 
hereafter, and must be accepted as a fact of which no satisfactory 
explanation can be given. Dr. Livingstone relates that he met with a 
hornbill at Kolobeng, and it was the first time he had seen the bird. 
While he was standing by a tree, he heard a native exclaim, " There is 
the nest of a korwe ' " and looking round, he discovered a slit about 
half an inch wide and three or four inches long in a slight hollow of 
the trunk. Thinking the word korwe denoted some small animal, he 
waited with interest to see what the native would extract. The 
latter broke a crust of clay which surrounded the slit, thrust his arm 
into the hole, and brought forth a tokus, or red-breasted hornbill, 
which he kUled. He then proceeded to inform the great African 
