174 
HORNBILL. 
is very simple, but bas one peculiarity : viz., that although 
the bird may be close at hand, the sound appears to come 
from a distance ; and as it lives generally in the most secluded 
shades of the forest, it is not improbable that this deception ! 
in its note may often be the means of preserving its life, the ; 
hunter being thus led away from an object so easily dis- 
covered ; but which, owing to the apparently distant sound, 
he little suspects to be within his reach. 
Table YIII. (See page 12.) 
Order 2. Passerine. Tribe 2. Serratirostral (serrated 
bills), so called from the jagged or tooth-like edges of the 
bill. 
HP HIS tribe consists of but three genera : 1. the Plant- 
cutter ; 2. the Momots ; 3. the Hornbill ; all foreign 
birds, and their habits but little known. Of the last, namely, 
the Hornbills (Buceros), living specimens are occasionally 
taken ; and in the spring of 1833, one was procured for the 
Zoological Gardens, in the Regent’s Park, London, but not- 
withstanding every attention, it did not live long. Of the 
seemingly deformed and monstrous bills of these birds, we 
have already spoken. 
Of their use, we are still much in the dark, but if, as may 
be presumed, the horny substance is furnished with highly 
sensible nerves, for the purpose of smelling or feeling, we can 
more easily account for their instinctive discovery of snakes, 
on the eggs of which, 
as well as insects 
and fish, they feed. 
On passing over a 
spot where the snake 
has concealed itself, 
though many feet un- 
der ground, the Horn- 
bill immediately be- 
gins digging till it 
