CHAPTER IX.

THE JACAMARS, PUFF BIRDS, KINGFISHERS, HORNBILLS, AND HOOPOES.

THE JACAMARS--THE PUFF BIRDS--THE KINGFISHERS--Characters--THE COMMON KINGFISHER--Distribution--Its Cry--Habits--After its Prey--Its own Nest-builder--Mr. Rowley’s Note on the Subject--Nest in the British Museum--Superstitions concerning the Kingfisher--Colour--Various Species--CRESTED KINGFISHER--PIED KINGFISHER--Dr. Von Heuglin’s Account of its Habits--New World Representatives--OMNIVOROUS KINGFISHERS--THE AUSTRALIAN CINNAMON-BREASTED KINGFISHER--Macgillivray’s Account of its Habits--THE LAUGHING JACKASS of Australia--Its Discordant Laugh--The “Bushman’s Clock”--Colour--Habits--THE HORNBILLS--Character--Their Heavy Flight--Noise produced when on the Wing--Food--Extraordinary Habit of Imprisoning the Female--Native Testimony--Exception--Fed by the Male Bird--Dr. Livingstone’s Observations on the point, and Mr. Bartlett’s Remarks--Strange Gizzard Sacs--Dr. Murie’s Remarks--Mr. Wallace’s Description of the Habits of the Hornbills--Capture of a Young One in Sumatra--THE GROUND HORNBILLS--South African Species--Kaffir Superstition regarding it--Habits--Mr. Ayres’ Account of the Natal Species--How it Kills Snakes--The Call--Habits--Mr. Monteiro’s Description of the Angola Form--Turkey-like Manner--Wariness--Food--THE HOOPOES--Appearance--Distribution--THE COMMON HOOPOE--Habits--The Name--How does it Produce its Note?--THE WOOD HOOPOES--Habits.

THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.

THE JACAMARS (_Galbulidæ_).[263]

These birds are usually of metallic green plumage, with long beaks and wedge-shaped tails, and are found only in Central and Southern America, where they seem to represent the Bee-eaters of the Old World. Not many notices have appeared of their habits, the best being that given by Mr. Waterton, in his “Wanderings” in Demerara:--“A bird called Jacamar is often taken for a Kingfisher, but it has no relationship to that tribe: it frequently sits in the trees over the water, and as its beak bears some resemblance to that of the Kingfisher, this may probably account for its being taken for one. It feeds entirely upon insects. It sits on a branch in motionless expectation, and as soon as a Fly, Butterfly, or Moth passes by, it darts at it, and returns to the branch it had just left. It seems an indolent, sedentary bird, shunning the society of all others in the forest. It never visits the plantations, but is found at all times of the year in the woods. There are four species of Jacamar in Demerara; they are all beautiful, the largest rich and superb in the extreme. Its plumage is of so fine a changing blue and golden green, that it may be ranked with the choicest of the Humming Birds. Nature has denied it a song, but given a costly garment in lieu of it. The smallest species of Jacamar is very common in the dry savannas. The second size, all golden green in the back, must be looked for in the Wallaba Forest; the third is found throughout the whole extent of these wilds; and the fourth, which is the largest, frequents the interior, where you begin to perceive stones in the ground.”

THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.

THE PUFF BIRDS (_Bucconidæ_).

In general form the Puff Birds are not unlike Kingfishers, some of which they resemble in their habits, feeding chiefly on insects, which they catch in the air. In many respects also they resemble the Bee-eaters (_Meropidæ_), and may be considered as representing the last-named family in South and Central America, to which countries they are entirely confined. Of the Long-winged Puff Birds (_Chelidoptera tenebrosa_) the late Prince Maximilian of Neuwied gives the following account:--“It is not rare in most provinces of South Brazil, and very common in many of them. It is found in certain spots sitting still and immovable upon the high isolated branches of the forest trees. From time to time it flies after an insect in the air, and falls back again to its place like a true Fly-catcher. It is a stupid, still, melancholy bird, but likes to sit high, and not low and near the ground, like other Puff Birds. As in form and colour it rather resembles a Swallow, the Brazilians call it _Andurinha do mato_ (Wood Swallow). The resemblance is greatest when the bird sits upon the ground, for its feet are little adapted for walking, and it consequently shuffles along as a Swallow does. Its flight is light and undulating. Sitting upon a high point, whence it can overlook the neighbourhood, it often emits a short call-note. It is anything but timid, and very easy to shoot. It is usually found where the woods are varied with open country, on the edges of the woods, but likewise in the interior of them. The food of these birds consists of insects, of which I have found the remains in their stomachs. On the Rio Grande del Belmonte I observed how these birds nest. In the month of August I saw them enter a round hole in a perpendicular sand-bank on the river, like a Kingfisher’s. After digging about two feet in a horizontal direction, we found two milk-white eggs upon a bad lining of a few feathers.”[264]

THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.

THE KINGFISHERS (_Alcedinidæ_).

The Kingfishers are a very varied family, including within their limits birds of very different form and habits. The bill is always long and powerful for the size of the bird, producing, in some of the smaller species, a top-heavy and ungainly aspect; but this organ is modified according to the habits of the birds, and is strictly in accordance with the functions which it has to perform. The foot is similar in all Kingfishers, the sole being very flat, and the toes joined together for the greater part of their length, so that the birds always have a very firm support to their bodies. The legs are very short and weak, the wings powerful, and the gape very wide. The Kingfishers may be divided into two sub-families, distinguished by the form of the bill, which is long and compressed in the fish-eating Kingfishers (_Alcedininæ_), of which the European bird is a type, with a distinct ridge or keel along the upper mandible; while in the _Daceloninæ_, which have a stouter and flatter bill, with a smooth and rounded culmen, the food is varied, consisting more of insects than of fish.

THE COMMON KINGFISHER (_Alcedo[265] ispida_).

This is, perhaps, the most brilliantly-coloured bird there is in England, but by reason of its shy habits and wonderfully quick flight it is not often observed, excepting as a flash of bright blue on the river side, appearing for an instant and gone the next. It is, however, by no means uncommon in many of the rivers in the south of England, particularly during the month of October, when a partial migration of the species evidently takes place. At this season of the year, the writer once observed a Kingfisher on the ornamental water in St. James’s Park. Beyond the British Islands it is found in most parts of the European continent, being replaced in the East by the little Indian Kingfisher (_A. bengalensis_), a miniature of the English bird, but with a much longer bill. The following account of the habits of this bird, the result of several years’ close acquaintance with the species on the river Thames, is taken from the author’s work on this subject[266]:--“When in a wild state, flying along the banks of a stream, or sitting patiently at watch for its finny prey, the Kingfisher is a beautiful sight. Often has it been our good fortune to witness the bird at close quarters, but this is by no means easy to accomplish, owing to the extreme wariness of the bird from repeated persecution. The presence of the Kingfisher in one’s neighbourhood can be detected from some distance by the faint cry which falls upon the ear from afar. This note, which is a shrill, but not unmusical, scream, generally consists of two syllables, but is very difficult to render in language. Naumann gives it as _ti-ti_, which is by no means a bad representation of the cry; and these syllables are quickly repeated as the bird leaves its perch and skims over the stream. The flight is rapid and very direct, the bird speeding like a bullet a little height above the surface of the water. When suddenly disturbed, it utters its cry shortly after leaving its perch, and then flies for some distance in silence; but when passing unmolested from one resting-place to another, its shrill note may be heard at frequent intervals. Just before perching, the cry is uttered three or four times successively--_ti-ti-ti_. When resting, it sits uprightly, with the glance directed downwards, motionlessly scanning the stream beneath, intent on the capture of any fish or water insect which may come within its reach. Its unerring dive seldom proves fruitless; and when secured, a few smart raps on its perch, to which the bird always returns, deprive the victim of life, after which it is immediately swallowed. Except in the early morning, it seldom chooses a very open position for its resting-place; but in the autumn, when the migration is in progress, at break of day it is not unusual to see two, or even three, birds in company on a rail or on the side of a punt; in the day-time, however, it loves solitude, and seldom more than one can be seen at once, and then it affects more shady and secluded haunts. In general it is a lonely bird, jealous of intrusion, especially from individuals of its own species. Each pair appears to choose and maintain a particular hunting-ground, and should one Kingfisher enter upon the domain of another, it is speedily and effectually ousted by the rightful owner with cries of rage. So fierce is the animosity displayed by these birds, that when excited in combat they fly heedless of obstacles, and thus occasionally meet their death in their headlong career.” An instance is on record of two Kingfishers flying with such violence against a window that both pursuer and pursued met their death on the spot. The present species does not always pounce on its prey from a perch, but will occasionally fly out over the mid-stream, and hover in the air like a Kestrel Hawk; and after making an unsuccessful plunge, will repeat its hovering position over the same spot, until its efforts are rewarded with success. It has been seen also to dash into the water several times in succession, which movement has been supposed to be for the purpose of attracting fish to the spot by disturbing the water; it is, however, more probable that in this exercise the bird is taking a bath. The young have exactly the same cry as their parents, but the note is less shrill. On leaving the nest, they often congregate in some well-shaded locality by the side of the stream, where food is brought to them by their parents, and the presence of the nestlings is often betrayed by their shrill pipings. The bill in the young birds is very short, and has a little white tip to it; in the adult male it is entirely black; but the female may always be distinguished by the base of the lower mandible being red.

That the Kingfisher makes its own hole is now an ascertained fact, and the following note on the subject was published in 1866 by Mr. G. Dawson Rowley:--“Though the subject of the Kingfisher (_Alcedo ispida_) is somewhat stale, yet, in consequence of the remarks which I have just read in the October _Quarterly_ on ‘Homes without Hands,’ I send you the following notes, made this spring, in order to set at rest, if possible, a mistake regarding the breeding of this bird. Modern writers on the Kingfisher are hardly more free from error than even Ovid or Pliny. The bird is a true miner, and makes a nest of fish-bones; but, as no rule is without an exception, when it cannot find a suitable bank to bore in, it has been known to nidificate in abnormal situations; and when abundance of proper fish are not to be caught it is obliged to do without bones.

“From many years’ constant watching, I can exactly tell the probable position of the hole, and the day it will be begun. Accordingly, on Thursday, March 29, I sent two witnesses to a particular spot on the River Ouse, St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. They observed that there was on that day positively no hole of any kind, no vestige of hole, in that bank. On Easter Monday, April 2, I sent a keeper to the place. He reported the hole as begun. On the same day I went in a boat, and, putting a reed up, found it by actual measurement about fifteen inches deep, the moulds being quite fresh outside. Droppings of the bird (which was seen constantly leaving the hole) were visible in two places. There was also a shallow hole a little to the left of the above-mentioned one. This was a failure--either from caprice or some other cause abandoned. We observe the same in Woodpeckers, which will sometimes bore in three or four places before they get one to their liking, a circumstance I particularly remarked in a pair of the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (_P. major_) last spring. Between March 29 and April 2 the Kingfisher had made two holes. I thought it best now to leave the place, only receiving from the keeper each morning a report, as he went by in his boat, how the bird was going on.

“Saturday, April 7, I made a memorandum: ‘I again observe fresh moulds, but not, as we consider, to-day’s, but yesterday’s: hence I suppose the hole to be nearly finished, if not quite.’ Here, I should say, after taking these nests constantly for nearly thirty years, I find twenty-one days is the correct time, from the commencement of the excavation to the end of laying seven eggs. I never had the luck to find eight; Mr. Gould, however, informs me he once did. ‘Saturday, April 21. Opened the hole situated in the perpendicular bank to keep off Water-rats. Found by measurement the entrance was twelve inches from the surface of the ground, and about five feet from the water. The length of the ascending gallery was eight inches and a half, and the oval chamber six inches in diameter more. The top of the chamber was nine inches from the surface of the ground. It contained the usual nest of fish-bones, which was one inch and a half deep; and the same, with the seven fresh eggs, are now before me, with two other nests from the same locality. The bird flew off after the first dig, which I commonly made so as to cover up the hole again without disturbance if the full number of eggs had not been laid. There was no excrement in the chamber, but much just outside in the gallery.’ The size of the chamber is just sufficient for the owners to turn round pleasantly. When the young birds, which I have seen in every stage, have been some time in the nest, of course the hole gets very foul. Here, then, is a case, capable of being attested by two or three witnesses step by step--and concerning which there can be no doubt--where the Kingfisher is proved to have made its own hole. I have known it when driven from one bank by floods to revert to an old hole of its own making in the previous year; but never has there been an instance of its taking up with the abode of its most deadly enemy, the Water-rat. It is hard to prove a negative, but it is certainly a most unlikely thing for a Kingfisher to enter a rat-hole. No one who has seen the eggs of this species _in situ_ as often as I have can deny that the fish-bones are placed with the design of making a nest.”

In the British Museum may be seen a nest of the Kingfisher, which was taken by Mr. Gould under the following circumstances:--“On the 18th of April, 1859, during one of my fishing excursions on the Thames, I saw a hole in a precipitous bank, which I felt assured was the nesting-place of a Kingfisher; and on passing a spare top of my fly rod to the extremity, a distance of nearly three feet, I brought out some freshly-cast bones of fish, convincing me that I was right in my surmise. The day following I again visited the spot with a spade, and, after removing nearly two feet square of the turf, dug down to the nest without disturbing the passage which led to it. Here I found four eggs placed on the usual layer of fish-bones. These I removed with care, and then replaced the earth, beating it down as hard as the bank itself, and restored the turfy sod. A fortnight after the bird was seen to leave the hole again, and my suspicions were aroused that she had taken to her old breeding quarters a second time. I again visited the place on the twenty-first day from the date of my former exploration, and upon passing the top of my fly rod up the hole, found, not only that it was of the former length, but that the female was within. I then took a large mass of cotton-wool from my collecting-box, and stuffed it to the extremity, in order to preserve the eggs from damage during my again laying it open from above. On removing the sod and digging down as before, I came to the cotton-wool, and beneath it was formed a nest of fish-bones the size of a small saucer, the walls of which were fully half an inch thick, together with eight translucent pinky-white eggs, and the old female herself. This nest I removed with the greatest care; and it is now deposited in the proper place for so interesting an object--the British Museum. This mass of bones, then weighing 700 grains, had been cast up and deposited by the bird and its mate in the short space of twenty-one days. Ornithologists are divided in opinion as to whether the fish-bones are to be considered in the light of a nest. Some are disposed to believe them to be the castings and fæces of the young brood of the year, and that the same hole being frequented for a succession of years, a great mass is at length formed; while others suppose that they are deposited by the parents as a platform for the eggs, constituting, in fact, a nest; and I think, from what I have adduced, we may fairly conclude this is the case: in fact, nothing could be better adapted to defend the eggs from the damp earth.” In ancient times there was a legend that when the Kingfishers made their nests--which were supposed to float upon the top of the sea--fine weather was always allowed to prevail.[267] A custom used formerly to be in vogue in England of turning a Kingfisher into a weathercock; and, according to the late M. Jules Verreaux, this practice is pursued in France even in the present day, where the bird is mummified and suspended by a thread with extended wings in order to show the direction of the wind. Mr. Harting alludes to these superstitions in his “Ornithology of Shakespeare” (p. 275). It was formerly believed that during the time the Halcyon, or Kingfisher, was engaged in hatching her eggs, the water, in kindness to her, remained so smooth and calm that the mariner might venture on the sea with the happy certainty of not being exposed to storms or tempests; this period was therefore called, by Pliny and Aristotle, “the halcyon days.”

“Expect Saint Martin’s summer, _halcyon_ days.”

_Henry VI._, Part i., Act i., sc. 2.

It was also supposed that the dead bird, carefully balanced and suspended by a single thread, would always turn its beak towards that point of the compass from which the wind blew. Kent, in _King Lear_ (Act ii. sc. 2), speaks of rogues who--

“Turn their _halcyon_ beaks With every gale and vary of their masters.”

And, after Shakspere, Marlowe, in his _Jew of Malta_, says:--

“But how now stands the wind? Into what corner peers my _halcyon’s_ bill?”

The Common Kingfisher measures about seven inches from the tip of his bill to the end of his tail. The colour of the upper parts is blue, greener on the mantle and scapulars, and beautiful rich cobalt on the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; the head is blue, barred with black, the wings blue, with spots of brighter cobalt on the coverts; in front of the eye is a spot of rufous, this being also the colour of the eye-coverts and under parts; the throat is white, and there is a patch of white on each side of the neck; the cheeks and sides of the breast are blue, the bill is black, the feet red. The female is coloured like the male, but can always be told by the red colour at the base of the under mandible. This is also present in young birds of both sexes, but the latter can readily be distinguished by their shorter bills.

Species of the genus _Alcedo_ are distributed over the greater part of the Old World, extending even into the Molucca Islands, but in Australia and the Papuan group they are represented by the genus _Alcyone_, comprising Kingfishers of similar form to the English bird, but distinguished by the absence of the inner toe. In Africa and Madagascar some beautiful little crested Kingfishers (_Corythornis_) are met with, the largest of which scarcely exceeds five inches in length. A very familiar species on the banks of the Nile is the Pied Kingfisher (_Ceryle[268] rudis_), one of the commonest birds in Africa and India, and of this species Dr. von Heuglin writes[269]:--“It lives in pairs, is sociable, and, except during the breeding season, more friendly with members of its own species than other Kingfishers, and often several pairs dwell in the same neighbourhood. It sits and watches along the shore on overhanging branches, on roofs, walls, brickets, rocks, and even on the ground, but seldom pounces from the latter on its prey. From time to time it takes a flight over shallow clear water, also right across the river or from one island to another, sometimes very low, generally, however, several fathoms above the surface. Its flight is not very swift, but straight, and steadied by quick, fluttering motions of the wing--not rushing, like that of _Alcedo ispida_--and it rises and falls according to will and with great agility. One often sees it, after taking a start by several quick flaps of the wing, and gliding on for a distance, suddenly, with one quick movement, alter the direction of the flight and suddenly stop and hover. When hovering, the bill is held straight down, and the hind part of the body and tail also rather lowered. Directly it catches sight of its scaly prey it turns up, lays its feathers close to the body, and drops like a stone into the water, remaining often over ten seconds below the surface. It seldom misses its mark, and devours the fish it has captured either on the wing or at one of its resting-places. The voice is a shrill whistle, at the same time chirpy, or at times snickery. During the pairing time the males often fight on the wing, and roll together, calling loudly, nearly to the surface of the water. In Egypt the breeding season is our spring; according to Adams, as early as December. The nest, consisting of a small heap of clean dry grass, is placed in a horizontal hole about arm’s depth in a steep bank, and contains four to six pure white roundish eggs, the shell of which is rather rough compared with that of _Alcedo ispida_. Often several nest-holes are close together. The plumage of the young much resembles that of the adult. There is scarcely any bird on the Nile tamer than the Black and White Kingfisher.” The genus _Ceryle_, to which the foregoing species belongs, is largely represented in the New World, one of the best known being the Belted Kingfisher of North America, and an unusual circumstance in fish-eating Kingfishers is characteristic of the genus, viz., a difference in the colouring of the sexes. The Stork-billed Kingfishers (_Pelargopsis_[270]) are the most powerful members of the sub-family, some of them measuring nearly a foot and a half in length.

More difference in form and size is perceptible in the omnivorous Kingfishers (_Daceloninæ_), where some of the little three-toed species of _Ceyx_ do not exceed five inches in length, whereas the Great Laughing Jackasses of Australia (_Dacelo_) attain the dimensions of more than a foot and a half. The smaller birds of this section feed almost entirely on insects, and the Rose-cheeked Kingfisher of Africa (_Ispidina[271] picta_) feeds principally on Grasshoppers and small Locusts, while its representative in Natal (_I. natalensis_) is said to feed entirely on Butterflies and insects caught on the wing. They are often found along the banks of rivers, but never catch fish. The large genus _Halcyon_ is distributed all over Africa, and ranges throughout Southern Asia, through China, to Japan, inhabiting also the islands of the Malay Archipelago and the entire Continent of Australia. These birds prefer a mixed diet, and, in addition to an occasional fish, they will also eat crustacea, small reptiles, and insects. Perhaps the most beautiful of all the Kingfisher family are the _Tanysipteræ_,[272] which are found only in New Guinea, the adjacent Moluccas, and the north-east peninsula of Australia. These birds have only ten tail-feathers, the middle pair being very much longer than the rest, and ending in a spatule or racket. They live entirely in the forests, feeding on insects, and they are said to roost in the holes of rocks by the side of small streams. The best known species of _Tanysiptera_ is the Australian Cinnamon-breasted Kingfisher (_T. sylvia_), which was discovered by the late Mr. John Macgillivray, who gives the following account of its habits:--“This pretty _Tanysiptera_ is rather plentiful in the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the dense bushes, and is especially fond of resorting to the sunny openings in the woods, attracted, probably, by the greater abundance of insect food found in such places than elsewhere. I never saw it on the ground, and usually was first made aware of its presence by the glancing of its bright colours as it darted past with a rapid arrow-like flight, and disappeared in an instant amongst the dense foliage. Its cry, which may be represented by _whee-whe-whee_ and _wheet-wheet-wheet_, is usually uttered when the bird is 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 for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an eye as a 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 remarkable a feature in the neighbourhood, some of them being as much as ten feet in height, with numerous buttresses and pinnacles. I believe that the bird also inhabits New Guinea; for at Redscar Bay, on the south-east of that great island, in long. 146° 15′ E., a head strung upon a necklace was procured from the natives.”

The largest of all the Kingfishers are the Laughing Jackasses of Australia, this curious name being given to the bird from its strange note and peculiar look, both of which can be appreciated by any visitor to the London Zoological Gardens, where there is generally one, if not two, out of the seven species known. Of the bird in its native haunts a very good idea is given us by the “Old Bushman,” the late Mr. Henry Wheelwright, which is here taken from a little work called the “Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist.” “About an hour before sunrise the bushman is awakened by the most discordant sounds, as if a troop of fiends were shouting, whooping, and laughing around him in one wild chorus: this is the morning song of the ‘Laughing Jackass,’ warning his feathered mates that daybreak is at hand. At noon the same wild laugh is heard, and as the sun sinks into the west it again rings through the forest. I shall never forget the first night I slept in the open bush in this country. It was in the Black Forest. I woke about daybreak, after a confused sleep, and for some minutes I could not remember where I was, such were the extraordinary sounds that greeted my ears; the fiendish laugh of the Jackass, the clear, flute-like note of the Magpie, the hoarse cackle of the Wattle-birds, the jargon of flocks of Leatherheads, and the screaming of thousands of Parrots as they dashed through the forest, all joining chorus, formed one of the most extraordinary concerts I have ever heard, and seemed at the moment to have been got up for the purpose of welcoming the stranger to this land of wonders on that eventful morning. I have heard it hundreds of times since, but never with the same feelings that I listened to it then. The Laughing Jackass is the bushman’s clock, and being by no means shy, of a companionable nature, a constant attendant about the bush-tent, and a destroyer of Snakes, is regarded, like the Robin at home, as a sacred bird in the Australian forests. It is an uncouth-looking bird, a huge species of land Kingfisher, nearly the size of a Crow, of a rich chestnut brown and dirty white colour; the wings slightly chequered with light blue, after the manner of the British Jay; the tail-feathers long, rather pointed, and barred with brown. It has the foot of a Kingfisher; a very formidable, long, pointed beak, and a large mouth; it has also a kind of crest, which it erects when angry or frightened, and this gives it a very ferocious appearance. It is a common bird in all the forest throughout the year; breeds in a hole of a tree, and the eggs are white; generally seen in pairs, and by no means shy. Their principal food appears to be small reptiles, grubs, and caterpillars. As I said before, it destroys Snakes. I never but once saw them at this game: a pair of Jackasses had disabled a Carpet-Snake under an old gum-tree, and they sat on a dead branch above it, every now and then darting down and pecking it, and by their antics and chattering seemed to consider it a capital joke. I can’t say whether they ate the Snake--I fancy not; at least the only reptiles I have ever found in their stomachs have been small Lizards. The first sight that struck me on landing in London was a poor old Laughing Jackass moped up in a cage in Ratcliffe Highway. I never saw a more miserable, woe-begone object. I quite pitied my poor old friend, as he sat dejected on his perch; and the thought struck me at the time that we were probably neither of us benefited in changing the quiet freedom of the bush for the noise and bustle of the modern Babylon.” The Common Laughing Jackass has the sexes alike, but in all the other species the male has a blue tail and the female a red one.

THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.

THE HORNBILLS (_Bucerotidæ_).

These birds are found in Africa, India, and throughout the Malayan region and Molucca Islands, as far as New Guinea. They are birds of rather ungainly appearance, nearly every species having a casque, or helmet, which is developed in every variety of shape, and in some of them reaches an extraordinary size. The flat soles which were alluded to in the Kingfishers are here developed in a greater degree, and the toes are united together in exactly the same way. The flight, however, of the Hornbills is very different from that of the Kingfishers, being heavy and performed with an abundance of noise: so much so that some explorers in South-eastern New Guinea have been led to speak of a bird whose wings, when flying, produced a noise “resembling a locomotive,” but which was doubtless made by the large Hornbill (_Buceros[273] ruficollis_), which frequents that part of the world. They are generally found on very lofty trees and at a great height, which makes them difficult to shoot; and Governor Ussher says that in ascending the lonely forest-clad rivers of North-western Borneo the only sign of life is often a solitary Hornbill flying across at a great height in the air. Wallace states that the Rhinoceros Hornbill (_Buceros rhinoceros_), a native of the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo, finds the exertion of flying so great that it is compelled to rest at intervals of about a mile; and the same author says that he heard the Great Hornbill (_Dichoceros bicornis_) more than a mile off, so that the amazement caused by one of these large birds to the travellers in New Guinea, as mentioned above, does not seem so very inexplicable. The voice of the last-named species is said to be very harsh and grating, and the noise it makes is compared by Wallace to something between the bray of a Jackass and the shriek of a locomotive, and is not to be surpassed, probably, in power by any sound that an animal is capable of making. Tickell says that its roar re-echoes through the hills to such a degree that it is difficult to assign the noise to a bird; and Wallace observes that this is kept up so continuously as to be absolutely unbearable. The flight is heavy, and performed by repeated flappings of its huge wings. It usually flies in a straight line, and sails only when about to alight upon some tree.[274]

The food of the Hornbills consists principally of fruits, but under certain circumstances they become to a great extent omnivorous, and will devour anything, some of the species searching the ground for Lizards, which they devour readily, both when wild and in confinement; and the Pied Hornbill (_Anthracoceros malabaricus_) is stated by Mr. Inglis to be very fond of live fish, which it catches in shallow pools. The way he discovered this predilection for an abnormal diet was as follows: he possessed a tame Otter and three tame Hornbills; at feeding time the Otter was placed in a tub containing live fish, and these, when closely pressed, would jump out to escape from their pursuer, and were immediately swallowed by the Hornbills. Mr. Inglis has also found bones of fish in the stomachs of birds which he had shot; and the natives of the Naga Hills affirm that when these Hornbills are intent on fishing they can be approached sufficiently close to be killed by a stick.

By far the most curious habit belonging to these birds is that which takes place during the breeding season, when the male bird plasters the female into a hollow tree, there to hatch her eggs, nor does he release her until the young ones are nearly full grown. It is scarcely possible to conceive a practice more detrimental to the well-being of any bird than this. The exertion of feeding himself as well as his wife and nestlings must entail a serious strain upon the male, while the destruction of the latter must inevitably ensure the starvation of the female and of the young birds. This curious habit has been well attested by observers in Asia as well as in Africa; and the writer once received from an old negro collector on the West Coast of Africa, who rejoiced in the name of St. Thomas David Aubinn, and styled himself “Royal Hunter to the King of Denkera,” an adult female of the Black Hornbill (_Sphagolobus atratus_), together with a nearly full-grown young one, which, he said, had been taken by him together out of the hole of a tree; and the habits of the Hornbill in this respect were given by him in the following words: “When the female go to sit, the male he her shut in tree. If he no bring food, then she angry. If he no then bring food, then she more angry--swear. If he no then bring food, then she curse him for die. Man--beef--beefy--beef!”

If the last sentence is intended to represent the enraged Hornbill, it is evident that the noises produced by the bird are not of that startling character ascribed to the Eastern species by Wallace, as mentioned above. All accounts seem to agree that the female is shut in the hollow of a tree; but Dr. Kirk noted an exception, on native authority, and therefore one which must be confirmed by future research. This is the Crested Hornbill (_Bycanistes cristatus_), which is a common bird on the river Shiré, where it goes in large flocks, and roosts regularly in the same places. “The natives say that the female hatches her eggs in a hole underground, in which she is fastened by the male.” Our astonishment at the imprisonment of the female Hornbill is not lessened when it is found that the male bird keeps her supplied with food by a most curious process, which accounts for the statement of Dr. Livingstone[275]:--“The first time I saw this bird was at Kolobeng, where I had gone to the forest for some timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind me and exclaimed, ‘There is the nest of Korwe.’ I saw a slit only, about half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow of a tree. Thinking the word Korwe denoted some small animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract. He broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the hole, and brought out a Tockus, or Red-beaked Hornbill, which he killed. He informed me that when the female enters her nest she submits to a real confinement. The male plasters up the entrance, leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his mate, and which exactly suits the form of his beak. The female makes a nest, of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, the male continues to feed her and the young family. The prisoner generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty morsel by the natives; while the poor slave of a husband gets so lean that on the sudden lowering of the temperature, which sometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls down, and dies.” At a meeting of the Zoological Society on the 25th February, 1869, Mr. A. D. Bartlett produced a curious envelope, which had been thrown by a Wrinkled Hornbill (_Anorrhinus corrugatus_) in the Zoological Gardens of London, which was found to contain plums or grapes well packed together; and Mr. Bartlett came to the conclusion that it was by means of fruit packed together in such a wrapper that the male fed the female during her confinement in the hollow tree. In 1874, Dr. Murie exhibited to the same society some similar envelopes, or, as he more properly called them, gizzard sacs, which had been thrown up by a specimen of Sclater’s Hornbill (_Bycanistes subcylindricus_) in the same way as by the previous bird. On examination, these gizzard sacs proved to be the interior lining of the bird’s stomach; and it was evident, from the short time that elapsed between the throwing up of the envelopes, that, as Dr. Murie observed, the bird in the interval had made a new one, and got rid of it also, without apparently being any the worse. One can readily imagine, however, that this process, being continued during the long period that the female is shut up in the bole of the tree, must tend greatly to weaken the bird. The habit of feeding his mate seems to be inherent in every Hornbill, even in captivity, for Mr. Bartlett observes:--“The tame male Hornbill is particularly distinguished at all seasons by this habit of throwing up his food, which he not only offers to the female, but to the keepers and others who are known to him. The male Concave Hornbill (_Buceros cavatus_) now in the Gardens will frequently throw up grapes, and, holding them in the point of the bill, thrust them into the mouth of the keeper, if he is not on the alert to prevent or avoid this distinguished mark of his kindness.”

Mr. Wallace thus describes the habits of the Hornbills, as observed by him during his travels in the East, and he points out certain peculiarities, proving that the old systematic position of these birds near the Toucans of America is erroneous:--“From an examination of the structure of the feet and toes, and from a consideration of their habits, we are led to conclude that the Hornbills are Fissirostral birds, though of a very abnormal form. Their very short legs and united toes, with a broad flat sole, are exactly similar to those of the Kingfishers. They have powerful wings, but their heavy bodies oblige them to use much exertion in flight, which is not therefore very rapid, though often extended to considerable distances. They are (in the Indian Archipelago, at least) entirely frugivorous, and it is curious to observe how their structure modifies their mode of feeding. They are far too heavy to dart after the fruit in the manner of the Trogons; they cannot even fly quickly from branch to branch, picking up a fruit here and a fruit there; neither have they strength or agility enough to venture on the more slender branches with the Pigeons and Barbets; but they alight heavily on a branch of considerable thickness, and then, looking cautiously round them, pick off any fruits that may be within reach, and jerk them down their throats by a motion similar to that used by the Toucans, which has been erroneously described as throwing the fruit up in the air before swallowing it. When they have gathered all within their reach they move sideways along the branch by short jumps, or, rather, a kind of shuffle, and the smaller species even hop across to other branches, when they again gather what is within their reach. When in this way they have progressed as far as the bough will safely carry them, they take a flight to another part of the tree, where they pursue the same course. It thus happens that they soon exhaust all the fruit within their reach; and long after they have left a tree the Barbets and _Eurylaimi_ find abundance of food on the slender branches and extreme twigs. We see, therefore, that their very short legs and syndactyle feet remove them completely from the vicinity of the Toucans, in which the legs are actively employed in moving about after their food. Their wings, too, are as powerful as those of the Toucans are weak; and it is only the great weight of their bodies that prevents them from being capable of rapid and extensive flight. As it is, their strength of wing is shown by the great force with which they beat the air, producing a sound, in the larger species, which can be distinctly heard a mile off, and is even louder than that made by the flight of the great Muscovy Duck.” Mr. Wallace[276] also describes the capture of a young Hornbill in Sumatra:--“I returned to Palembang by water, and while staying a day at a village while a boat was being made water-tight, I had the good fortune to obtain a male, female, and young bird of one of the large Hornbills. I had sent my hunters to shoot, and while I was at breakfast they returned, bringing me a fine large male of the _Buceros bicornis_, which one of them assured me he had shot while feeding the female, which was shut up in a hole in a tree. I had often read of this curious habit, and immediately returned to the place, accompanied by several of the natives. After crossing a stream and a bog, we found a large tree leaning over some water, and on its lower side, at a height of about twenty feet, appeared a small hole, and what looked like a quantity of mud, which I was assured had been used in stopping up the large hole. After a while we heard the harsh cry of a bird inside, and could see the white extremity of its beak put out. I offered a rupee to any one who would go up and get out the bird, with the egg or young one, but they all declared it was too difficult, and they were afraid to try. I therefore very reluctantly came away. In about an hour afterwards, much to my surprise, a tremendous loud, hoarse screaming was heard, and the bird was brought me, together with a young one, which had been found in the hole. This was a most curious object, as large as a pigeon, but without a particle of plumage on any part of it. It was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a semi-transparent skin, so that it looked more like a bag of jelly, with head and feet stuck on, than like a real bird.”

One genus of these Hornbills is so remarkable as to demand a special notice.

THE GROUND HORNBILLS (_Bucorax_).

These are an African form, of which there are two or three kinds, distinguished by the casque, which is open in the birds from Abyssinia, compressed and shut in the South African species (_B. cafer_). Of the habits of the latter bird several accounts have been written, from which a few extracts are made; and the first is from a letter sent by Mr. Henry Bowker to Mr. Layard, after the publication of the latter’s “Birds of South Africa”[277]:--“There are many superstitions connected with the ‘Bromvogel.’ The bird is held sacred by the Kaffirs, and is killed only in times of severe drought, when one is killed by order of the ‘rain-doctor,’ and its body thrown into a pool in a river. The idea is that the bird has so offensive a smell that it will ‘make the water sick,’ and that the only way of getting rid of this is to wash it away to the sea, which can only be done by heavy rains and flooding of the river. The ground where they feed is considered good for cattle, and in settling in a new country, spots frequented by these birds are chosen by the wealthy people. Should the birds, however, by some chance, fly over a cattle kraal, the kraal is moved to some other place. They are mostly found in groups of from three to six or seven, and build their nests in hollow trees, or in the hollow formed by three or four branches striking off from the same spot. They roost in tall yellow-wood trees, and commence calling about daylight. I never saw one eating carrion, as stated in your book, though I have frequently seen them near the bones of dead cattle, picking up beetles and worms. They will eat meat, mice, and small birds, and swallow them by throwing them suddenly in the air, and letting them drop down the throat in falling. I once had a tame one, and noticed this particularly. It is very weak on the wing, and when required by the ‘doctor,’ the bird is caught by the men of a number of kraals turning out at the same time, and a particular bird is followed from one hill to another by those on the look-out. After three or four flights it can be run down and caught by a good runner.”

Mr. Ayres’ account of the species in Natal, though often referred to by other writers, is so excellent that no work treating of South African birds can omit it, and is therefore reproduced here in its entirety:--“In the stomach of the male were snakes, beetles, and other insects. These birds are gregarious, and to be found here all the year round, but are not very plentiful, generally three or four, sometimes more, being found together. They are very fond of hunting for their food on ground from which the grass has been burnt; with their strong bills they peck up the hard ground and turn over lumps in search of insects, making the dust fly again. Having found an insect or other food they take it up, and giving their head a toss, the bill pointing upward, appear to let the food roll down their throat. They also kill large snakes in the following manner, viz.:--On discovering a snake, three or four of the birds advance sideways towards it with their wings stretched out, and with their quills flap at and irritate the snake till he seizes them by the wing-feathers, when they immediately all close round and give him violent pecks with their long and sharp bills, quickly withdrawing again when the snake leaves his hold. This they repeat till the snake is dead. If the reptile advances on them they place both wings in front of them, completely covering the heads and most vulnerable parts. Their call, which consists of but one note repeated--a deep and sonorous _coo-coo_--may be heard at a great distance. I have myself heard it, under favourable circumstances, at a distance of nearly two miles. The call of the female is exactly the same _coo-coo_, only pitched one note higher than the male. The latter invariably calls first, the female immediately answering, and they continue this perhaps for five or ten minutes, every now and then, as they are feeding. Their flight is heavy, and when disturbed, although very shy, they seldom fly more than half a mile before they alight again. At a distance they would easily be mistaken for Turkeys, their body being deep and rather compressed, similarly to those birds, with the wings carried well on the back. The little pouch on the throat they are able to fill with air at pleasure, the male bird sent to me to London doing this before he died. I think their principal range of country is on the coast and from twenty to thirty miles inland. They roost on trees at night, but always feed on the ground.”

In Angola, where the bird is called by the natives _Engungoashito_, Mr. Monteiro had great difficulty in procuring specimens, on account of the superstitious dread in which they are held by the natives. He says:--“They are found sparingly nearly everywhere in Angola, becoming abundant, however, only towards the interior. In the mountain range in which Pungo Andongo is situated, and running nearly north and south, they are common, and it was near the base of these mountains that I shot these two specimens. They are seen in flocks of six or eight (the natives say always in equal numbers of males and females). Farther in the interior I was credibly informed that they are found in flocks of from one to two hundred individuals. The males raise up and open and close their tails exactly in the manner of a Turkey, and filling out their bright cockscomb-red, bladder-like wattle on their necks, and with wings dropping on the ground, make quite a grand appearance. They do not present a less extraordinary appearance as they walk slowly with an awkward gait, and peer from side to side with their great eyes in quest of food in the short grass, poking their large bills at any frog, snake, &c., that may come in their way. Their flight is feeble and not long sustained. When alarmed, they generally fly up to the nearest large tree, preferring such as have thick branches with but little foliage, as the _Adansonia_, ‘Muenzo’ (a wild fig). Here they squat close on the branches, and, if further alarmed, raise themselves quite upright on their legs in an attitude of listening, with wide open bills. The first to notice a person at once utters the customary cry, and all fly off to the next tree. They are very wary, and the grass near the mountains being comparatively short, with but little scrub or birch, it is very difficult to approach without being observed by them from the high trees. I followed a flock of six for upwards of two hours, crawling flat on my stomach, negro fashion, before I obtained a chance of a shot, when I was so fortunate as to break the wing of a male without otherwise injuring it. It was quickly captured by the blacks. They are omnivorous in their food; reptiles, birds, eggs, beetles, and all other insects, mandioca roots, ginguba or ground-nuts, constitute their food in the wild state. In confinement I have fed this bird upon the same food, also upon fresh fish, which it showed itself very fond of, as well as on entrails of fowls, &c. On letting it loose in Loanda in a yard where there were several fowls with chickens, it immediately gulped down its throat six of the latter, and finished its breakfast with several eggs! The note or cry of the male is like the hoarse blast of a horn, repeated short three times, and answered by the female in a lower note. It is very loud, and can be heard at a considerable distance, particularly at night. They are said to build their nests on the very highest _Adansonias_, in the hollow or cavity formed at the base or junction of the branches with the trunk.”

The present species is of a very large size, measuring about forty inches in length, and about nineteen inches in the wing. It is entirely black, with the exception of the primary quills, which are white; the bill and legs are black, but the bare skin on the neck and round the eye is bright red in the male, but blue in the female.

THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTRAL PICARIAN BIRDS.

THE HOOPOES (_Upupidæ_).

Different as these birds are in appearance and habits, ornithologists now agree that from their structure they must be placed in close alliance with the Hornbills, with which they are more particularly connected by the Wood Hoopoes. Instead of the ungainly figures and top-heavy-looking casques of the Hornbills, the Hoopoes are remarkable for their graceful carriage and elegant figure, in which the beautiful crest plays an important part. They are particularly at home in the desert countries, where their sandy-coloured plumage is no doubt a great protection to them; and a story is told that the Hoopoe, if it sees a Hawk approaching, will throw itself flat on the ground, and by twisting its wings round in front and remaining motionless, with its bill pointing upwards, it will look like a piece of old rag, and thus escape detection.

Not more than five species of Hoopoe are known, all inhabitants of the Old World, and the most widely distributed is the Common Hoopoe (_Upupa epops_) of Europe, which visits England during the spring and autumn migration, and at least one instance of its breeding in that country is known. Mr. Howard Saunders states[278]:--“In the year 1847 a pair of Hoopoes nested in a hole of an old yew-tree in a shrubbery of an old-fashioned garden at Leatherhead, Surrey. The proprietor was very anxious that the birds should not be disturbed, and a strict veto was placed upon any bird’s-nesting in the shrubbery--a severe trial to our boyish propensities; but we were afterwards rewarded by seeing the parent birds with their young strutting about upon the lawn. As well as I remember, there were five young ones besides the two old birds.” The species is found all over central and southern Europe in summer, being in some places very plentiful; but it is a rare visitor to the northern parts, and has disappeared from some countries, like Denmark, for instance, where the felling of the old and hollow forest trees has deprived it of its accustomed breeding-places. In some places the bird is disliked, and in Scandinavia, where it occurs only in the southern and central portions, it bears a bad name among the peasantry, who suppose it to be a foreboder of war and hard times, and from this circumstance its name of Härfugel or “army bird,” is derived. The Chinese also have an objection to them, branding them by the name of “Coffin-bird,” as they often breed in the holes of exposed Chinese coffins. On the other hand, according to Canon Tristram, in the Sahara the Arabs have a superstitious veneration for the Hoopoe, and its magical properties enter largely into the arcana of the Arab “hakeem.” He says that great numbers of Hoopoes resort to the M’zab cities and frequent oases in winter, where they strut about the courtyards and round the tents with the familiarity of barn-door fowls. Mons. Favier says, that in Tangier the superstitious Jews and Mahomedans both believe that the heart and feathers of the Hoopoe are charms against the machinations of evil spirits.

The ordinary name of Hoopoe is derived from the note of the bird, and in most European languages the latter suggests the vernacular names. Thus, in Bulgaria it is called _Poo-poo_, in Valentia _Put-Put_, _Bubbula_, &c., in Italy, _Poupa_ in Portugal, and so on. Mr. Swinhoe writes of the bird and its note as follows:--“I have already described the peculiar way in which the Hoopoe produces its notes--by puffing out the sides of its neck, and hammering on the ground at the production of each note, thereby exhausting the air at the end of the series of three, which makes up its song. Before it repeats its call, it repeats the puffing of the neck with a slight gurgling noise. When it is able to strike its bill, the sound is the correct _hoo-hoo-hoo_; but when perched on a rope, and only jerking out the song with nods of the head, the notes more resemble the syllables _hoh-hoh-hoh_. Mr. Darwin makes use of this last fact to show that some birds have instrumental means to produce their music. It is not to this point, however, that I wish to call attention, but to the fact of the bird’s puffing out the sides of its neck. It is generally supposed that the song of a bird is produced by actions of the lower larynx on air passing up the bronchial tubes onwards and outwards through the main tube, or trachea. The trachea of the Hoopoe is not dilatable, but its œsophagus is; and the puffing of the neck is caused by the bulging of the œsophagus with swallowed air. There is no connection between the œsophagus and the trachea, and apparently no organ at the entrance to the former that could modify sound. What action, then, can this swallowed air be made to take in the production of the bird’s notes? Pigeons have strikingly large air-crops, which they empty with each _coo_, and refill before they _coo_ again. Many birds swell out the throat when calling or singing, and others move it up and down. These actions must also be caused by the swallowed air in the œsophagus, and must modify the sounds in some way, as variously used, adding power and richness in some cases, or giving ventriloquistic effect in others. This question seems never to have been enquired into before, and I throw out the hint in hopes that others may help to elucidate the matter with their investigations.”

The length of the Common Hoopoe is about one foot; the upper surface is greyish-brown, the wings and shoulders black barred with white, the rump being pure white; on the head, which is tawny-coloured, is an enormous crest, the feathers of which have a black tip, before which is a narrow white bar; the tail is black; with a white band at about a third of its length from the end; underneath the body is pale cinnamon, white on the abdomen and under tail coverts, the flanks striped with brown. The sexes are alike in colour, excepting that the female is a little paler.

THE WOOD HOOPOES (_Irrisor_).

All the birds belonging to this section of the Hoopoes are remarkable for their very long and strongly graduated tails, for their brilliant metallic plumage, which is always dark, and inclining more or less to black--instead of a sandy colour, as in the true Hoopoes--and most of them for their very curved, scimitar-like bills. They are all natives of Africa, and have a remarkably loud, chattering note; and from its harsh and resounding voice the Red-billed Wood Hoopoe (_I. erythrorhynchus_) is known among the Dutch at the Cape as “Cackala,” or the “Chatterer.” The late M. Jules Verreaux told the writer that the noise made by these birds is tremendous, and that on one occasion he was attracted by an uproar, which seemed to indicate that something unusual was the matter. On proceeding to the place whence the noise came, he was astonished to find on the low branch of a tree three of these birds, perched one on the back of the other, betokening by their drooping wings and repeated chatterings the utmost consternation and fright. The cause of this was not far to seek, for just below the birds was a cobra, balancing himself in an erect attitude, and perfectly motionless, the only indication of life being the incessant flicking of the animal’s tongue. The cacklings of the birds became feebler and feebler, until at last the bottom one fell off the perch and dropped into the extended jaws of the snake, which were ready to receive it; while the other two birds, apparently freed from the spell of the reptile’s eye, took to instant flight. Having his gun in his hand, M. Verreaux shot the snake immediately; but on going to rescue the bird, found that the latter was quite dead. Mr. Thomas Ayres, who has studied the species in Natal, says:--“The food of these birds consists almost entirely of a species of cockroach, which they take from the crevices of rough-barked trees, and in search of which they creep about the trunk and branches somewhat similarly to the Woodpeckers. In this manner their tail-feathers frequently become much worn. From four to eight of these birds are generally together, and frequent busby country. They have a loud chattering note, and are extremely restless in their habits. They have a peculiarly powerful and disagreeable smell.” Mr. Andersson’s account of the species is as follows:--“It lives in small flocks--probably consisting of entire families--which frequent trees, chiefly of the larger kinds, and examine them most assiduously in search of insects and their larvæ, which they extract from crevices in the wood and from beneath the bark. These birds climb like Woodpeckers; and their long tails come into constant contact with the rough surface of the trees, by which the tail-feathers are much injured. When they have finished their examination of one tree they move to the next convenient one, but not all together, as a short interval generally elapses after the departure of each individual. The moment flight is decided on, they utter harsh discordant cries or chatterings, which are continued until they are all safely lodged in their new quarters. These harsh notes are also heard when they conceive themselves in danger from either man, beast, or bird; and they thus often betray their presence.”

The present species measures about seventeen inches, the tail being about ten out of that number, and being thus three inches longer than the body of the bird. The colour is black, glossed with green on the head, back, and under surface, with blue on the throat, purple on the wings and tail, and having a bronzy gloss on the shoulders. All the tail feathers, except the two centre ones, have a white spot near the tip and across the wings a white bar. The bill and legs are bright coral red.