1063. Lophoceros griseus

1063. Lophoceros griseus.

The Malabar Grey Hornbill.

Buceros griseus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i, p. 147 (1790). Tockus gingalensis, apud Jerdon, Mad. Jour. L. S. xi, p. 38; id. B. I. i, p. 250; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 5; nec Buceros gingalensis, Shaw. Buceros gingalensis, Baker, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 292 ; nec Shaw. Tockus griseus, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 350; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 255; v, p. 395 ; Hume & Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 387 ; Hume, Cat. no. 145; Elliot, Mon. Buc. pi. 54; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 51; Butler, ibid. p. 384; Davison, S. F. x, p. 352 ; Macgreyor, ibid. p. 436; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 106; Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 334. Ocyceros griseus, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 396.

The Jungle Grey Hornbill, Jerdon; Kaldal-haki, Can.

Coloration. Upper parts dark slaty grey, brownish on the back; nasal plumes and broad supercilia, extending far backwards, brownish white; ear-coverts blackish ; feathers of head, crest, throat, and breast with whitish shaft-stripes; quills black, primaries, from 3rd to 7th, 8th, or sometimes 9th, with broad white tips; tail-feathers black glossed with green, the three outer pairs white for some distance from the tips ; lower parts ashy grey, paler on the chin and on the abdomen ; vent and lower tail-coverts rufous.

Both mandibles are thickened at the side by a kind of incrustation towards the base ; nostrils elongate, in a groove, the posterior portion of which is covered by membrane and overhung by a tuft of feathers.

Bill horny yellow, with a brownish-red tinge except towards the tip, dusky or black along the commissure; irides red-brown; orbital skin black; legs and feet greenish. In the female the bill is paler and has black patches on the top of the culmen and at each side of the lower mandible, near the base in both cases. Young birds have dull white or yellow irides.

Length about 24; tail 9; wing 8.5; tarsus 1.75; bill from gape 4.25. Females measure rather less.

Distribution. Forests along the Malabar coast, as far north as the neighbourhood of Bombay. This Hornbill does not ascend the hills of Southern India above about 3000 feet. Tockus gingalensis is included in Dr. King's list of Goona birds, but doubtless by mistake.

Habits, &c. A forest species, shy, usually keeping in small flocks, living on fruit, and having a peculiar call. The flight, according to Bourdillon, is more rapid and easy than that of L. birostris. Mr. Baker found 3 eggs in a nest that he took ; Mr. Davidson, in Kanara, 2 or 3. The latter found several nests in February and the beginning of March. The breeding-habits are similar to those of L. birostris.