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Common Name : Malabar Gray Hornbill
Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus
Order : Coraciiformes Family : Bucerotidae (Hornbills)
Range : Moist deciduous forests of sw India

This Species is Monotypic, No Subspecies

3rd Edition, 2003. Revised and Corrected per Corrigenda to December 31, 2006

Common Name : Malabar Grey Hornbill
Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus

This Species is Monotypic, No Subspecies

IOC Common Name : Malabar Grey Hornbill
IOC Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus

Distribution :
Region : OR Range : sw India
Order : BUCEROTIFORMES Family : Bucerotidae
Category : Hornbills
Note: Separation of the hoopoes and hornbills as the Order Bucerotiformes maintains monophyly of the Coraciiformes without submerging the Piciformes and Trogoniformes into the Coraciiformes (Hackett et al. 2008). The hornbills (Bucerotidae) and ground hornbills (Bucorvidae) are sister taxa, related in turn to the hoopoes and wood hoopoes (Hackett et al. 2008)

SYNOPIS NO : 768- 769

Scientific Name: Tockus griseus
Common Name: Malabar Grey Hornbill

Common Name : Malabar Grey Hornbill
Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus ((Latham, 1790))
Birdlife Synonym : Malabar Grey-Hornbill (10)

BirdLife Redlist Status Year 2010: LC
BirdLife Species FactSheet for Malabar Grey Hornbill ( Ocyceros griseus )

Taxonomy Treatment : R

IUCN Common Name (Eng) : Malabar Grey Hornbill, Malabar Grey-hornbill
Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus (Latham, 1790)
IUCN Redlist Species FactSheet for Malabar Grey Hornbill, Malabar Grey-hornbill ( Ocyceros griseus )

Species : griseus
Genus : Ocyceros
Family : Bucerotidae Order : Coraciiformes

IUCN RedList Status : LC

IUCN RedList Criteria Version : 3.1
IUCN RedList Year Assessed : 2008
IUCN RedList Petitioned : N

Family : BUCEROTIDAE

Scientific Name : Ocyceros griseus
Common Name : Malabar Grey Hornbill

 

145. :- Tockus gingalensis, Shaw. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 250 ; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 384.

The Jungle Grey Hornbill.

Length, 22 ; expanse, 25 to 27 ; wing, 8.25 ; tail, 8.5 to 9.5 ; tarsus, 1.6 ; bill from gape, 4.25.

Bill horny-yellow, suffused with a brownish-red tinge, except towards the tips ; margin along commissure black; tips paler; orbital skin black ; irides red; tarsi and feet greenish.

Head above, and back, dark cinereous-brown, with a cast of bluish grey; the greater coverts, secondaries, and primaries, all narrowly edged with whitish, and the latter broadly tipped with white, and with an oblique white line on their outer edge; a pale line over the eyes, extending along the sides of the head; the two centre tail feathers dusky bluish-grey, the rest dusky blackish-grey, broadly tipped with white, except the pair next the centrals; beneath light dusky-grey, the feathers centred paler; rufescent on the lower abdomen, outer thigh-feathers, and under tail-coverts.

A specimen in Mr. Hume's possession, obtained from Travancore does not correspond over well with Dr. Jerdon's description. I therefore quote Mr. Hume's description in full: :- " The forehead is greyish-white; a broad superciliary stripe from the nostrils over the eyes extending some distance back, a slightly brownish-white ; the feathers of the crown and occiput slaty-grey, the latter conspicuously elongated and with greyish-white shaft-stripes ; faint greyish-white tippings to most of the feathers of the crown; the ear-coverts dark brown paler shafted; feathers of the chin whitish; entire throat and sides of the neck grey; the feathers pale, almost white shafted; the whole of the plumage of these parts is dull, as is also, that of the lower parts, but all the rest of the upper parts is well glossed; the entire back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and wing-coverts, dark greyish-dusky, with a faint greenish reflection on it; the coverts have mostly the faintest possible pale edges, and the shafts of many of the feathers have in certain lights a scarcely perceptible line on either side of them ; the quills and tail-feathers are black, with a greenish lustre on them, very conspicuous on the secondaries and tail-feathers except the central pair; the third to the eighth primary inclusive broadly tipped with pure white on both webs, the ninth similarly tipped but on the inner web only.

All the tail-feathers but the central pair broadly tipped with white; breast, flanks, sides, and upper abdomen, greyish-white to white ; vent and lower tail-coverts white, tinged with fulvous or dingy pale rufescent.

The Jungle Grey Hornbill is a permanent resident and occurs sparingly all along the Sahyadri range. It does not occur in any other portion of our limits.

 

Ind. Orn. pt. Tockus gingalensis, Shaw, apud. Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 250, No. 145 ; id., Suppl. Vol. i, No. 145 ; Elliot, Mon. Bucer pl.; Hume, Str. F. iv. p. 339.. -

The Jungle- Grey. Hornbill.

Head above and back dark cinereus brown, with a cast of bluish grey; greater coverts, primaries and secondaries all narrowly edged with whitish and the primaries broadly so, and an oblique white line on the external edge ; a pale line over the eyes, extending along the sides of the head -r two central tail feathers dusky bluish grey, the. rest dusky blackish grey, broadly tipped with white, except the pair next the centrals ; beneath light dusky grey, the feathers centred paler; rufescent on the lower abdomen, outer thigh feathers and under tail coverts. Bill dingy deep yellow ; irides red brown; feet dark grey. (Jerd.)

Length. - 22 inches; tail 8.5 ; wing 8.25 ; bill straight from gape 4.25:

Hab. - Malabar forests and Travancore. Like its congeners lives on fruit of various kinds. Rhinoplax gingalensis is now known to occur in Ceylon only; and does not extend to Southern India.

 

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.

 

The Malabar Grey Hornbill.

Buceros griseus Lath., Ind. Orn., i, p. 147, 1790 (Novo Hollandie, in err ore; Malabar). Lophoceros griseus. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 156.

Vernacular names. Kaldal - Hold (Can.) ; Pottu munga (Travancore).

Description. A broad indefinite superciliary stripe whitish; crown dark grey with central pale streaks to each feather, becoming broader on the sides and anterior crest and on the neck; upper parts slate-grey, with a tinge of brown and faint grey-green gloss ; primaries black with broad white tips; tail black, all but the two central pairs with broad white tips; ear-coverts dark grey-brown streaked paler; chin greyish-white; throat, fore-neck and upper breast grey, tinged with brown and streaked with whitish ; lower breast and abdomen rather paler grey; vent and under tail-coverts rufous-buff.

Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown; orbital skin black ; bill horny-yellow with a brownish-red tinge on all but the tip in the male; " in the female it is waxy-yellow with black patches on the culmen and on the base of the lower mandible; legs and feet greenish-slate to greenish-black.

Measurements. Wing 205 to 220 mm.; tail 219 to 235 mm.; tarsus 44 to 45 mm.; culmen 100 to 110 mm., depth about 40 mm.

Distribution. South-West India from South Travancore to Khandesh.

Nidification. Bourdillon, Stewart and Davidson record the breeding-season of this Hornbill as lasting from January to April, inclusive, and the nesting is in every way similar to that of the preceding bird. The normal fall clutch seems to be three, but Stewart took several of four in Travancore. Thirty eggs average 41.4 x 30.0 mm,; maxima 42.4 X 31.0 mm.; minima 35.5 x 27.0 mm.

Davidson found it breeding as far North as Kanara.

Habits. According to Bourdillon this is a Hornbill of the open deciduous forest between 1,000 and 4,000 feet, more common above than below 2,000 feet. It also frequents clearings, such as tea estates and rice cultivation and is a familiar bird wherever fouud. Its voire, flight and diet are the same as those of the Northern Grey Hornbill.

 

Buceros griseus Latham, Index Orn., vol. i, p. 147, 1790 ; New Holland in errores Malabar.

Buceros cineraceus Temm. & Laug., Planch. Color. d'Ois., livr. 88, May 1831.