Maternity Leave

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".....Hornbills nest in hollow trees and have the unusual habit of sealing females into the nests. This habit throws a heavy burden on the male, for the female moults and grows enormously fat during the incubation period and when the eggs--usually two---are hatched she is unable to fly, and the male has the strenuous task of providing food for the whole family. By his ungainly appearance, his enormous beak fitted with a sound-box, and his heavy and labored fight, the hornbill gives the impression of having missed the bus of evolution. And his habit of sealing up the nest and leaving only a small hole through which the female projects the tip of her beak to take the food the male brings her, possibly dates back to prehistoric days when the bird had more powerful enemies than it has today. All birds that nest in hollow trees or that make holes in trees in which to nest, have common enemies. Some of these birds--tits, robins, hoopoes--are quite defenseless and the question therefore arises why the hornbill, who by reason of his powerful beak is best able to defend itself, should be the only of these many tree-nesting birds to consider it necessary to seal up its nest.

Another unusual habit which the hornbill does not share with any other bird that I know of, is its habit of adorning its feathers with pigment. This pigment, which is yellow and can readily be wiped off with a handkerchief, is carried in a small sack above the tail and is laid with the beak on to two broad white bands that extend across the width of the wings. Why the hornbill finds it necessary to paint these white bands yellow with a pigment that washes off every time it rains, I can only attribute to camouflage against an enemy, or enemies, that it suffered from in bygone days. For the only enemy it occasionally suffers from now is a leopard, and against a leopard operating at night camouflage is of little avail..."

...Jim Corbett...Jungle Lore

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gps: This passage of Jim Corbett is unmatched by even Thurber who wrote so many doleful pieces on extinct animals and birds.

http://gpsastry.blogspot.com/2010/07/millmoss-ponsonby.html

Superb writing....By the way, seen any human hornbills?

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