THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 685 
BUCEROTIDAE Hornbills 
Bycanistes fistulator (Cassin). Piping Hornbill 
Buceros fistulator Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, vol. 5, p. 68, 1852: West Africa. 
Size of a large cuckoo, about 19 inches, with large bill and long tail. Bill short, compressed, and 
furrowed at base of lower mandible. Belly and thighs, inside of wings, tips of secondaries, and all 
but central tail-feathers, as well as upper and lower tail-coverts white; elsewhere black with steely 
reflections. Senegal to Niger. 
Of the small black and white hornbills, this may be recognized by its white 
outer tail-feathers. It is apparently less common than L. semifasciatus, indeed 
the only specimen we secured was one shot by Dr. Shattuck on the Du, an 
adult female, August 8. Biittikofer (1885) found it only during the rainy 
months, from July to September, and secured a large series at Soforé Place, 
where small flocks visited some fruit-bearing trees in the forest with clock-like 
regularity. Possibly this periodic appearance may be regulated in part by the 
ripening of favorite fruits, and at other times the birds are more scattered. At 
all events Lowe (Bannerman, 1912) found it on the southern coast of Liberia 
at Subono, which he visited on February 10 and on March 4. 
Bycanistes cylindricus (Temminck). Black-thighed Hornbill 
Buceros cylindricus Temminck, Pl. Col., livr. 88, pl. 521, fig. 2, 1831: Cape Coast, West Africa. 
Length about 30 inches, of which the tail is a little less than half; black, the rump, upper and 
lower tail-coverts, belly, and wing-tips except two outer primaries, white; tail-feathers white at 
base and tip, black centrally; naked skin about eye reddish, bill white, brownish in middle, with 
well-developed upper horn. Liberia to Gold Coast. 
Biuttikofer regarded this as the rarest of all the hornbills in Liberia. He 
secured but two, both females, near Soforé Place. They hide in the thickest 
crowns of the forest trees. A single skull he also mentions from the Du. There 
are no other records. 
Lophoceros semifasciatus (Hartlaub). Allied Hornbill; ‘‘Palm-bird”’ 
Buceros semifasciatus Hartlaub, Journ. f. Orn., vol. 3, p. 356, 1855: Rio Boutry, Gold Coast. 
Of medium size, black above with greenish reflections, belly and a spot: near the base of the 
outer primaries white; second and third tail-feathers on each side with long white tips. Bill 
without projection on upper margin, its tip and a line along the edge of the culmen, and a parallel 
one along the gape black; elsewhere yellowish, the groove in front of nostril black bordered with 
chestnut. Senegambia to Gold Coast and northern Nigeria. 
This is undoubtedly the commonest species of hornbill in Liberia, easily 
distinguished by the plain coloring, and the long white tips to the second and 
third outer feathers of the tail. It is a bird of the tree tops and high forest 
but often comes into the more open tree growth, sometimes in large flocks, 
at least in the summer months (July or August), trooping along in a strag- 
gling way from tree to tree. They also visit the groves of oil palms and feed 
to some extent on the pulpy fruit, whence the local name, ‘‘Palm-bird.”? In 
mid-September at Gbanga I saw a bird fly to a hole high up in the trunk of a 
tree and clinging to the opening, emit a shrill squeaking note. Possibly this 
was the nest hole. 
