I08 THE LIVING ANIMALS OL THE WORLD 
for food without moving from her ■ 
sitting position. During incubation 
the male bird supplies the female 
with food in the form of pellets of 
fruit, seeds, insects, portions of reptiles, 
etc., the pellets being enclosed each ■ 
in a skin of rubber-like consistency. 
While feeding the female, the male 
clings to the bark of the tree, or sits 
on a branch if conveniently near, and ; 
jerks these pellets into the gaping- 
beak of the hen, two to four pellets 
forming a meal. During mastication 
(for it is a mistake to suppose that 
the hornbills always bolt their food : 
entire) some fragments of the pellets 
fall to the ground, and seeds which 
these fragments may contain take ; 
root, germinate, and sprout, and the 
natives can judge approximately of 
the date of incubation by the age of 
the seedlings. When these are four- 
leaved, the eggs have been hatched 
out for two or three weeks. At this 
stage, though not always so early, 
the mother bird leaves the nest, 
breaking down the gluey substance 
with her beak to effect an exit; 
having left the nest, the aperture 
through which she left is carefully 
closed up again, leaving the slit as 
before, and now both male and female 
devote their energies to feeding the young birds, which in course of time follow the example 
of their mother and leave their place of imprisonment. It is more than probable that this 
gluing up first of the mother bird and her eggs and afterwards of the nestlings alone is solely 
a means of protection against predacious carnivora. ... 
“The nesting-season is during May and June, and it is noteworthy that the birds, if 
undisturbed, return to the same nesting-place every year. The saplings at the foot of the 
tree, sprung from seeds dropped in the first year of paring, afford signs to the natives of the 
number of years during which the tree has been occupied. If during paring or incubation 
the female or female and young are destroyed, the male takes to himself another mate, and 
repairs to the same nesting-place ; if, however, the male and female are destroyed, the nest is 
never reoccupied by other pairs. An interesting incident was observed while on Mount Dulit. 
Espying on a tree the external signs of a hornbill’s nest, and a male rhinoceros perched close 
by, I shot the male, and while waiting for my Dyak collectors to make a ladder up the tree 
to secure the female, I observed several young male birds fly to the nest and assiduously ply 
the bereaved widow with food, a fact which seems to indicate a competition in the matrimonial 
market of the bird-world as severe as that among human beings. It is no easy matter to 
procure embryos or nestlings of hornbills, for the natives are inordinately fond of both as 
articles of diet, and, further, are always anxious to secure the tail-feathers of the adults to 
adorn their war-coats and hats. 
“The native method of catching the female during incubation is ingenious, though 
Photo by Schola'tu Photo, Co.J 
CRESTED HORNBILL 
T/ie Hornbills deri've their name from the great size of the bill 
