The Pied Hornhill. 
5 
so interesting at mealtimes that I frequently wasted lialf an hour 
\vatchins4' tliem, after having;' \>\\\ in their food sui)phes. 
Tliey were 1919 hatched birds, Init weH dex elopel when 
they reached me, liaving' travehed weh, and their conchtion 
reflected great credit on Mr. Harper's skill in planning 
travelling' cages to ensure a comfortable and clccuily journey 
and fee(hng arrangements en route. (3f course they were in 
juvenile plumage and with tails cut short (another provision 
for their comfort), and with tiieir huge bills but partially 
developed. And when our member, Mrs. A. M. Cook, wrote 
th;it there was an adult specimen at the Zoo and kindly ofTered to 
make a drawing of it for Bird Xotes, 1 gratefully accepted her 
offer, so that our members could see juvenile and adult 
pkmiages, as it were, side by side. 
For many years this group at the Zoo have interested me 
greatly, and I have often spent quite a time with them and their 
keeper in their section of the Eastern Aviary, watching their 
dexterity in catching raisins, etc., and their equally dexterous and 
quaint method of disposing of them. 
True they are somewhat ungainly in deportment compared 
with most of the other occupants of our aviaries, but this is a 
matter of comi)arison only, for, when one considers their habits 
etc., one is amazed not only at their dexterity, but how 
completely nature made them fit for the battle of life. 
Their nesting economy also is most interesting, but 1 
need not rei)eat details, as these liave been already given in my 
extracts from Mr. Dewar's notes on this species and Hornbills 
generally. How great would be the interest of watching a 
l)air provided with accommodation that would su])ply some 
chance of successful nesting, even though success was long 
withheld, and many disappointing episodes marked the sequence 
of their endeavour to reproduce their kind! 
.After all the accommodation necessary need not be huge; 
a shelter about 8 feet square and (> feet high, with a flight about 
10 feet x 8 feet should form excellent quarters for them. The 
shelter should be provided with some means of keeping up a 
temperature of about 50 degrees F. during the cold months of 
