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Show 1869.] MR. C. HORNE ON THE GREY HORNBILL. 241 Addendum. By Dr. A. GUNTHER. Col. Playfair has sent to the British Museum, besides the fishes described in the preceding paper, an example of a small Labroid fish, which he regarded as a new species of Labrichthys, requesting me to examine it also. It proves to be identical with Labrichthys cya-noteenia of Bleeker; but it would have been difficult to recognize it from Bleeker's description, as he has omitted to say that the groundcolour of examples preserved in spirits changes into black. Beside an example sent by Dr. Bleeker as L. cyanoteenia, the British Museum possesses an example of Thysanochilus ornatus of Kner. This I find is identical with the Zanzibar fish, although it appears really to be the type of a distinct genus closely allied to Labroides, for which the name proposed by Kner ought to be retained. The synonymy is:- THYSANOCHILUS CYANOTA*ENIA. Labrichthys cyanoteenia, Blkr. Thysanochilus ornatus, Kner. Samoa Islands, Flores, Zanzibar. Specimens in the British Museum :- a. 6\ inches long. Samoa Islands. Type of Th. ornatus. b. 3| inches long. Flores? (L. cyanoteenia.) c. 3\ inches long. Zanzibar. 6. Notes on the C o m m o n Grey Hornbill of India (Meniceros bicornis). B y C. H O R N E , F.Z.S. Dr. Jerdon, in his 'Birds of India' (vol. i. p. 244), has briefly sketched the habits of the Homrai, or Great Hornbill, and allusion is there made to its curious custom of building-up its mate in the hole of a tree for the purposes of incubation; and I observe that Mr. Wallace, in an interesting article in the 'Intellectual Observer' (June 1863), states that a similar habit has been observed in at least three species, including that under notice. Dr. Jerdon also quotes Major S. R. Tickell as having " seen this with his own eyes." The number of observers must of necessity have been very small who have had the opportunity of watching the process of nidification ; and as I only last year was so fortunate, I have deemed the subject worthy of a note. The beak, neck, and tail of this bird being long, and the wings comparatively short, its flight is rather undulating, accompanied by frequent flapping of the wings, as the bird traverses the short distance from grove to grove in search of its favourite food, the fig of the Peepul tree (Ficus religiosa). Moreover, as during its flight it often utters its harsh note, it is a bird which attracts the notice of the most casual observer. It often flies in threes ; and a visit from |
