o the teeth and claws of all would-be intruders, whether bird
or quadruped; and with the horny beak of the old hen projected outward,
and quite filling up the aperture, even the slippery tree-snake cannot
find room enough to squeeze his body through. The female, thus free
from all fear of being molested, quietly continues her incubation!

When Ossaroo had got thus far with his explanation, Caspar interrupted
him with a query.

"What!" said he, "sit all the time--for weeks, I suppose--without ever
coming out--without taking an airing? And how does she get her food?"

As Caspar put this question, and before Ossaroo had time to answer, a
noise reached their ears which appeared to proceed from the sky above
them. It was a noise well calculated to inspire terror in those who had
never before heard it, or did not know what was causing it. It was a
sort of fluttering, clattering sound, or rather a series of sounds,
resembling the quickly repeated gusts of a violent storm.

The moment Ossaroo heard it, he knew what it was; and instead of giving
a direct answer to Caspar's question, he simply said--

"Wait a bit, sahib. Here come old cockee horneebill; he show you how de
hen getee her food."

The words had scarcely passed from the lips of the shikaree, when the
cause of that singular noise became known to his companions. The maker
of it appeared before them in the form of a great bird, that with a
strong flapping of its wings flew past the tree in which they were
seated, towards that which contained the nest.

In an instant afterwards, it was seen resting on a spur-like projection
of the trunk, just below the aperture; and it needed not Ossaroo to tell
them that it was the cock hornbill that had there alighted. The large
beak--the tip of it resembling that which they had already seen sticking
out of the hole, and which was once more visible and in motion--
surmounted by an immense helmet-like protuberance, rising upon the
crown, and running several inches along the top of the upper mandible,
which might have been taken for a second beak--this singular appendage
could belong to no other bird than the _hornbill_.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

THE HORNBILL.

Karl, although he had never seen one of these birds alive, had yet
examined stuffed specimens of them in museums, and he had no difficulty
in recognising the bird. He was able even to identify the species, for
there are many species of hornbill, known under the gene