In Another Nest We Found That One White Egg,
Much Like That Of A Pigeon, Was Laid, And The Bird Dropped Another
When Captured.
She had four besides in the ovarium.
The first time
that I saw this bird was at Kolobeng, where I had gone to the forest
for some timber. Standing by a tree, a native looked behind me
and exclaimed, "There is the nest of a korwe." I saw a slit only,
about half an inch wide and three or four inches long,
in a slight hollow of the tree. Thinking the word korwe denoted
some small animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract;
he broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the hole,
and brought out a `Tockus', or `red-beaked hornbill', which he killed.
He informed me that, when the female enters her nest, she submits
to a real confinement. The male plasters up the entrance,
leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his mate, and which exactly suits
the form of his beak. The female makes a nest of her own feathers,
lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the young
till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which is stated to be
two or three months, the male continues to feed her and the young family.
The prisoner generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty morsel
by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets so lean that,
on the sudden lowering of the temperature which sometimes happens
after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls down, and dies.
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