ROLLERS, KINGFISHERS, HORNBILLS, AND HOOPOES 107 
with a series of corrugations along the ridge of the base of the bill, gradually increasing, to 
form, in the most extreme cases, huge superstructures of quaint shapes, and apparently of 
great solidity. As a matter of fact, howev^er, these casques are practically hollow, save in the 
case of the Helmet-IIORNBILL of the Malay countries, in which the horny sheath is backed by 
solid supports of bone, whilst the front of the sheath itself is of great thickness and surprising 
density, and is used by the natives for carving and making brooches and other ornaments. 
The use of this powerful hammer — for such it may possibly be — is unknown. 
Hornbills are forest-birds, feeding upon fruit and insects, the latter being captured on 
the wing. With large bill and wings, a long tail, and a relatively small body and short 
legs, they are rather unwieldy birds, and yet, for many reasons, unusually interesting. Their 
nesting habits are unique, and quite worth recounting here at some length. Of the many 
accounts, one of the most interesting, as well as one of the latest, is that of Mr. Charles Hose, 
of Borneo. 
“The nest,” he writes, “is always built in the hollow of a large tree — the hollow, be it 
noted, being always due to disease of the tree or the ravages of termites, not to the personal 
labours of the birds. The bottom of this cavity is often plugged by a termites’ nest and 
accumulation of decayed wood, and on the upper surface of this is made the nest, a very 
rough-and-ready structure, composed simply of the feathers of the female. The hollow of the 
tree communicates with the e.xterior air by means of a long aperture, which, just before the 
period of incubation, is closed up almost entirely by the male, simply leaving a long slit open, 
up and down which the beak of the enclosed female can move. The substance used in thus 
closing the aperture closely resembles some vegetable resin, and is probably composed of a 
gastric secretion, combined wdth the w'oody fragments of fruit. It should be noticed that this 
slit is always in close pro.ximity to the nest, so that the female can easily protrude her beak 
Photo by Reid~\ 
LAUGHING- JACK ASS 
Frequently kno^n as the Settler's Cloch 
llViihaw^ N,B. 
