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The Crowned Hornbill.
(Anthracoceros coronatus.)
The beak of the Hornbill is large and ungainly, but its most striking feature is the extraordinary horny growth which aroused the wonder of the ancients; the Roman Pliny describing this bird (of which he heard) as greater than the AEgle, having crooked hornes like a Ram on either side of the head, of the colour of yron! This queer beak appears as though it might be a handicap rather than an advantage to its possessor; in most of the Hornbills, however, it is quite light, the horn being less solid than it appears. It is probably used as a sort of hammer enabling the bird to break open hard-shelled nuts.