Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/182

derived, causes great diversity of aspect among them, the possession of prominent eyelashes (not a common feature in Birds) produces a uniformity of expression which makes it impossible to mistake any member of the family. Horn- bills are social birds, keeping in companies, not to say flocks, and living chiefly on fruits and seeds ; but the bigger species a^so capture and devour a large number of snakes, while the smaller are great destroyers of insects. The older writers say that they eat carrion, but further evidence to that effect is required before the statement can be believed. Almost every morsel of food that is picked up is tossed into the air, and then caught in the bill before it is swal lowed. They breed in holes of trees, laying large white eggs, and when the Inn begins to sit the cock plasters up the entrance with mud or clay, leaving only a small window through which sin receives the food he brings her during he;- incarceration.

Great Indian Hornbill (B. licornis). After Tickell s drawing in the Zoological Society s library.

This remarkable habit, almost simultaneously noticed by Dr Mason in Burma, Tickell in India, and Livingstone in Africa, and since confirmed by other observers, especially Mr Wallace^[1] in the Malay Archipelago, has been connected by Mr Birtlett (Proc. Zool. Society, 1869, p. 142) with a peculiarity as- remarkable, which he was the first to notice. This is the fact that Hornbills at intervals of time, whether periodical or irregular is not yet known, cast the epithelial layer of their gizzard, that layer being formed by a secretion derived from the glands of the proventriculus or some other upper part of the alimentary canal. The epithelium is ejected in the form of a sack or bag, the mouth of which is closely folded, and is filled with the fruit that the bird has been eating. The announcement of a circumstance so ex traordinary naturally caused some hesitation in its accept ance, but the essential truth of Mr Bartlett s observations has been abundantly confirmed by Professor Flower (torn. cit., p. 150), and especially by Dr Mime (op. cit., 1874, p. 420), and what seems now to be most wanted is to know whether these castings are really intended to form the hen bird s food during her confinement.

(a. n.)

HORN-BOOK, a name sometimes given to an elementary treatise on any subject; It was originally applied to a sheet containing the letters of the alphabet, which formed a primer for the use of children. It was mounted on wood and protected with transparent horn. Sometimes the leaf was simply pasted against the slice of horn. The wooden frame had a handle, and it was usually hung at the child s girdle. The sheet, which in ancient times was of vellum and latterly of paper, contained first a large cross the criss-crosse from which the horn-book was called the Christ Cross Row, or criss-cross-row. The alphabet in large and small letters followed. The vowels then formed a line, and their com binations with the consonants were given in a tabular form. The usual exorcism " in the name of the Father and of the tSonne and of the Holy Ghost, Amen " followed, then the Lord s Prayer, the whole concluding with the Roman numerals. The horn-book is mentioned in Shakespeare s Love s Labour s Lost, v. 1, where the La, the a, e, ? , o, -it, and the horn, are alluded to by Moth. It is also described by Ben Jonson—

" The letters may be read, through the horn, That make the story perfect."

Horn-books are now of gr,;fit rarity. A representation of a good specimen will be found prefixed to Halliwell s Notices of Fugitive Tracts, in the twenty-ninth volume of the works printed for the Percy Society.

HORNCASTLE, a market-town giving its name to a soke in Lincolnshire, England, is situated at the foot of a line of low hills called the Wolds, on an angle formed by the confluence of the Bain and Waring, and at the terminus of a branch line of the Great Northern Railway, 21 miles east of Lincoln. The principal buildings are the parish church of St Mary s (supposed to have been originally erected in the time of Henry VII., possessing a square embattled tower, many fine old monuments, and an old brass), Queen Elizabeth s grammar school founded in 1562, the dispensary opened in 1789, the corn exchange opened in 1856, with a room for public meetings, and accommodation for the mechanics institute, a library, and a news-room. There are also national and Wesleyarr schools, and an infant school for poor children. Among the charities is one for apprenticing orphan boys belonging to the parish. A few fragments still remain of the ancient fortification from which the town takes i s name, and many Roman urns and coins have been dis covered in the vicinity. Near the confluence of the rivers there at one time existed an ancient labyrinth called the Julian bower. To the south-east of the town there is a spot called Hangman s Corner, where criminals were formerly executed. The prosperity of the town is chiefly dependent on agriculture and its horse fairs, that held in August being the largest of- its class in England. Brewing, malting, and currying are carried on, and there is some trade in coal and iron. The population of the parish in 1871 was 4947, and of the soke 10,469.

Horncastle is believed to be the Roman jBannovalhim. The fort is said to have been originally constructed by the Romans, re- fortified and strengthened by Horsa, the brother of Hengest, but shortly afterwards demolished by Vortimcr, king of the Britons. The manor at the time of the Norman survey belonged to the king, and after being for an unknown period in ]>m-.ite hands, was sold in the reign of Henry III. to the bishop of Carlisle, who received from Henry a charter authorizing him to try felons and hold a court leet a and granting free warren and an annual fair.

 

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1. In his interesll;!:; work (i. p. 213), this gentleman describes a nest ling Hornbill (/}. ll-oniis) which he obtained as "a most curious object, as large as a pigeon, but without a particle of plumage on any part of it. It was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a semi-trans parent skin, so that it looked more like a bag of jelly, with head and feet stuck on, than like a real bird."