The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-07-26
HABITS OF The HORNBlLL.
T.4ese Little Feathered Folks Have a Great
Idea of Home.

| luea OF Home.
A curious South African bird is the
variety of hornbill known as Tockus me-
lanoleucus, LIGHT, paper ON which by
Dr. Secondhand of the Albany museum was
read at a recent meeting of the South
African Philosophical society at Cape
Town. The nesting habits of this horn
bill are so extraordinary that they have
been repeatedly referred to by various
writers, but owing to the difficulty of
finding the nests of the birds many de-
tails of the earlier accounts are not quite
correct, while others are not touched
upon at all.
During the last four years DR.. Schon-
land has examined, he said, no fewer
than seven nests altogether, with the
birds belonging to most of them. The
birds are often seen in winter in large
numbers in the gardens at Graham S
Town, but in the summer they are only
to be met with in proximity to closely
wooded kyloofs, and this is due to the
fact that they nest in places where hollow
trees are to be found. All observers
agree that during incubation the female
is a prisoner in kind of cage, the en-
tent that it has to be broken open before
the female can leave the nest. In all the
cases he had seen the nests were built in
hollow trees. Mrs. Barber had said that
they sometimes made the nest between
the crowded stems of the tall euphorbia,
but that could not be reconciled with
some of her other statements The birds
had apparently no preference for any
particular trees so long as it suited their
purpose. The essential point for them
was that the hollow stem should be suf-
ficiently large for the female to move
about in the nest, and, whether there is
one or more entrances, all must be of
such nature that they can be partially
or wholly closed up. The female, once
inside, is fed by the male through the
narrow slit left i'll the material with
which the entrance is closed or through
a natural cleft in the wood. In the lat
ter case the main entrance is closed up
completely, This may be a precautionary
measure to protect the female during the
season of incubation.
He questioned the statement whether
the male built or the female, as Living
stone stated he had been told by native
The female took an essential part in the
plastering up of the entrance Having
described the nests which he had seen,
he proceeded to state that the female,
after going into the nest, usually began
to mott, and was sometimes almost
naked. She was usually very fat while
in prison, as the male bird brouAht her
food every few minutes. AS soon as dan
ger approached, the female bird cir ned
up the nest as far as possible away frC.n
the entrance and kept perfectly out
until the danger had passed. The young
behaved in the same manner, the birds |
relying for protection on the fact that |
,he nest is not easily recognized as such. |
No doubt if attacked the hornbill could |
give good account of itself. The female
IS imprisoned for seven or eight weeks,
for not less than six weeks |
The eggs are laid about the end of De-
,ember or beginning Of January, and
ire usually three or four in number and
vary in size. He felt certain from min
lte observation that the female con-
'tructed her own prison, and left it some
line before the young We're fully de-
yeloped. On her leaving it was plastered
Up again in the same manner, and the
'emale helped the male feed the young.
he concluded by stating that there was
plenty of scope for further investigation
nto the nesting habits of the hornbill.
st. James Gazette.