FEMALE HORNBILL, AND YOUNG BIRD.
I returned to Palembang by water, and while staying a
day at a village while a boat was being made watertight,
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.