inner toe fhorteft; the two outmoft toes connected to the middle'
one as far as the firftjoint: the wings reach beyond the bafe of
the tail.
This defcription is taken from a perfedt fpecimen now laying
before me, which came from the Eaft-Indies, and is in the col-
lection of Captain Davies. Buffon deferibes one, which was alive
in Paris during the fummer of 1777, and came from Pondicherry,
This was of the fame lize with our Jpecimen, and foppofed to
be near three feet in length; but the gibbolity of the bill an
inch and an half longer, and was fuppofed to have had ftill
half an inch more in length, as it had received an injury:
the bill itfelf blunt at the end, and eight inches long : the eye
was of a red brown, and the bare Ikin round it black: the
bird could eredt or deprefs the creft at will: the tail differed
much, for it had four of the middle feathers black the whole
length, and the reft of the feathers white, except at the bale,
where they were black: the legs black, fcaly : the- claws long and
blunt.
The manners of this bird were peculiar: it would leap forwards,
or fideways, with both legs at once, like a Magpie,.or Jay,
never walking: when at reft,. it folded its.head back between the
wings-: the general air and appearance was rather flupid and
dull, though it would fometimes put on a fierce look, if at any
time it was furprized, or the like : it would eat lettuce, after
bruifing them with its bill, and fwallow raw fiejh ; as well as devour
rats, mice, and fmall birds, if given to him : it had different
tones of voice on different occafions; fometimes a hoarfe found in
the throat, moft like ouck, ouck; at other times very hoarfe and
weak, not unlike the clucking of a Turkey Hen. This bird ufed’
to difplay the wings, and enjoy itfelf in. a warm, fun, but fhivered
Bnceros hydrocorax, Lin. Syft. i. p. 155. N° 2. y.
Le Calao, Er if. orn. iv. p. 556. N° 1. t. 45. INDIAN
Le Calao des Moluques, Buf. oif. vil. p. 147.—roi. iii. p. 41.
-------- |------- ---------—• PI. enl. 283.
Le Corbeau Indien, Orn. de Salem, p. 91. N° 8. pl. 9. f. 3.
Corvus Indicus, Raii Syn. p. 40. N° y.— Will. orn. t. 17.
Bontius’s Indian Raren, Will. orn. p. 126. N° 7. '
' I HIS bird is rather bigger than a Cock: length two feet four D escription-.
inches. The bill is two inches and a half thick at the
bafe, five inches in length, and bends a little downwards j both
mandibles are dentated on the edges, but the under one is molt
fo; on the top is an additional excrefcence, of the fame texture
* In the Planchees enluminées, N° 873, is a bird not far differing from this
laft, if not meant for the fame. The diftribution of colours on the bill Is the
fame, but on this are expreffed three double longitudinal furrows, placed at
fiearly equal diffiances, not mentioned in Buffon’s defcription of that bird : a little
way from the bafe of the under mandible is a white fpot : the belly, vent, and
thighs, white : the reft of the body black : the two middle tail feathers black ;
the others wholly white.
I make no doubt but all the above are the fame fpecies, differing merely ia
fex or age ; and it is very probable, that the one deferibed from my fpecimen,
having the bill very fmooth, as well as its being lefs, may be a young bird ; as,
perhaps, the wrinkles feen in the Planchees enluminées, as well as in a bill now in
the Leverian Mujeum, may be the effeft of mature age : witnefs the horns of
cows, and other animals.—Mem. Buffon refers to pi. 873, in his lifi, vol, vii.
p. 140, though he does not in his defcription of the bird.
9 as