1059. Ptilolaemus tickelli

1059. Ptilolaemus tickelli.

Tickell's Hornbill.

Buceros tickelli, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 266 (1855); xxviii, p. 412 ; Tickell, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 285. Toccus tickelli, Tickell, Ibis, 1864, p. 173, pl. iii. Anorrhinus tickelli, Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 67 ; Elliot, Mon. Buc. pl. 43 ; Hume, Cat. no. 144 bis; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 96; id. In Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 76. Ocyceros tickelli, Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 103; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 499 ; Bingham, S. F. viii, pp. 194, 460, 462; ix, p. 158. Ptilolaemus tickelli, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 392.

Coloration. Male. Plumes at each side of forehead dull rufous; crown and nuchal crest dark greyish brown, the feathers with whitish shaft-stripes and rufous edges; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, tertiaries, and wing-coverts dark brown, larger secondary-coverts pale-edged, larger primary-coverts black, some of them white-tipped; primaries black, slightly glossed, tipped white and with a broad buff outer border for an inch or two near the middle, but gradually nearer the tip in the later primaries ; secondaries black, outer web greyish brown and the margin buff; middle tail-feathers dark brown, other tail-feathers black glossed with green, all tipped white, the outer more broadly ; sides of neck and lower parts bright rufous, feathers of fore-neck with pale shaft-stripes ; thigh-coverts mixed with dusky; wing-lining dark brown, edge of wing in front of winglet buff.

Female. The plumes at the sides of the forehead are concolorous with the crown; there are no white tips to the primary-coverts, and those to the quills are small or wanting; lower parts duller and darker than in the male, growing blackish on the chin and dusky on the vent and lower tail-coverts.

Bill and casque yellowish white in the male, the tip of the lower mandible blackish, and a saffron patch on each side of the base ; bill and casque of female brownish black ; irides in both sexes bright brown ; skin around orbits and at base of lower mandible bluish white or blue ; legs and feet brownish black.

Length of male 30; tail 11.5; wing 13; tarsus 2; bill from gape 5. The female is smaller : wing 12 ; bill 4.5.

Distribution. Only known from the Tenasserim hills east of Moulmein.

Habits, &c. A shy restless bird, keeping to high forest, usually in parties of 8 or 10, and flying with the almost noiseless flight of Anthracoceros, alternately flapping and sailing. The nest has been described by Major Bingham, who found from 3 to 5 eggs in each of the usual nest-holes in February. The eggs are white originally, but generally stained during incubation, and average 1.82 by 1.34 in dimensions. These birds, according to Major Bingham, are far less wary in the breeding-season than at other times.