. Natural history. Zoology. KINGFISHERS—HORNBILLS. 339 The Sub-order Bucerotes. wheet-wheet-wheet, ia usually uttered -while the bird i? perched on a bare, transverse branch or woody, rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out station, and whence it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small lizard, generally returning to the same spot. It is a shy, suspicious bird, and one well calculated to try the patience of the shooter, who may follow it in a small brush for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an eye as the native to whom I was indebted for first po
. Natural history. Zoology. KINGFISHERS—HORNBILLS. 339 The Sub-order Bucerotes. wheet-wheet-wheet, ia usually uttered -while the bird i? perched on a bare, transverse branch or woody, rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out station, and whence it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small lizard, generally returning to the same spot. It is a shy, suspicious bird, and one well calculated to try the patience of the shooter, who may follow it in a small brush for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an eye as the native to whom I was indebted for first pointing it out to me. According to the natives, who know it by the name of 'Quatawur,' it lays three white eggs in a hole dug by itself in one of the large ant-hills of red clay which form so remaikable a feature in the neighbourhood, some of them being as much as 10 ft. in height, with numerous buttresses and } lunacies. I believe that the bird also inhabits New Guinea; for at Redscar Bay, on the south-east side of that great island, in Long. 146° 50' E., a held, strung upon a necklace, was procured from the ; We now know that the New Guinea bird is distinct, and is T. suhadoriaiia. The Hornbills are remarkable birds, not only on account of their form, but from the singular habit which every one of the species affects, so far as we know, of imprisoning the female while she is engaged in incubating. The Hornbills vary immensely in size, from the great Rhinoceros Hornbill (Bucerus rhinoce^-os), which is nearly 4 ft. long, to the tiny Lophocerus hartlanbi which is only just over a foot in length. The Ground-Hornbills (Bucorax) are natives of Africa, where they are generally distributed in the Ethiopian region. They are thoroughly terrestrial birds, of black plumage, with a little red or blue decoration on the bill, or the bare portion of the throat. Walking about on the ground, they have the appearance of black Turkeys, and are considered " omen "-birds a
Size: 1179px × 2119px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorly, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
