The DJOLAN, or YEAR BIRD (_Rhyticeros plicatus_), represents a group
principally characterised by a wrinkled excrescence situated on the upper
mandible. The wings are of medium size, and the feet short and powerful;
the tail is rounded at its extremity. The plumage of the Year Bird is
principally black; the top of the head is brownish yellow, and the tail
white; the eye is brownish red, the beak light horn-grey, and the foot
blackish grey. The bare skin upon the throat is pale yellow in the male,
and dull blue in the female. In other respects the latter resembles her
mate. The young are without the excrescence on the beak, which only
develops after they are full grown. The name of Year Bird is derived, as
we are told, from an idea formerly prevalent that a fresh wrinkle was
annually added to the remarkable skin-like growth on the upper mandible.
[Illustration: THE DJOLAN, OR YEAR BIRD (_Rhyticeros plicatus_).]
The Djolan, as this bird is called by the natives, inhabits the
Sunda Islands and Malacca, where it frequents extensive forests and
promontories, from three thousand to four thousand feet above the sea,
rarely ascending beyond that height, apparently because certain favourite
fruit-trees do not grow above that point. From early morning it may be
seen sweeping in a direct line above the summits of the loftiest giants
of the forest, with head and neck thrust forward, producing as it flies
the remarkable rushing sound above described. These birds live in pairs
throughout the entire year, and subsist upon various kinds of fruits.
We have made various successful attempts to rear the young on cooked
potatoes and fruit, but have frequently found that the adults refused
all nourishment, and only survived their captivity a few days. Whilst at
liberty we have never heard this species produce any sound; but, when
excited, the prisoners uttered a loud grunting resembling that of an angry
pig. Despite the light construction of their large beak, they bite very
sharply, and we have known them make a hole through a half-inch plank
with which their cage had been repaired. The nest of this species is
placed at a considerable height, in the hollow of one of the huge trees,
covered with dense masses of parasites that form so striking a feature in
the primitive forest. The only nest we were fortunate enough to find was
betrayed to us by the movements of the male bird. This breeding-hole was
some sixty feet above the ground; in it we saw the female securely walled
up with a mixture of earth and bits of decayed wood, firmly cemented
together with what we believe to be spittle from the male bird's beak.
Only a small aperture was left, through which the female could obtain
the fruits assiduously brought her by her affectionate spouse. This
breeding female had lost almost all the principal wing and tail feathers,
and would therefore have been powerless to save herself from danger had
she not been thus safely protected. The natives informed us that the
female always moults in this manner during the period of incubation, and
does not recover her plumage till the young are ready to fly. Horsfield
mentions having been told that should the male bird discover that a rival
has attempted to minister to his partner's wants during his absence in
search of food, he at once tears down the protecting wall, and leaves his
fickle mistress to perish from exposure and hunger. The nest of this bird
described by Bernstein was formed of a few twigs and chips of wood placed
at the bottom of the hole, which contained a still blind nestling, and an
egg that was nearly hatched. The latter was of small size, oval in form,
and had a rough white shell, marked here and there with pale red and brown
spots and cloudings. In an account given by Layard of the incubation of
an allied species, he says: "My friend, Mrs. Baker, thus speaks of the
singular habits this bird exhibits, in common with its congeners, of
blocking up the sitting female in her nest:--'Building her up with mud
and sticks into old broken hollow trees, or between the crowded stems of
the tall euphorbia in the forests, and closing up the entrance in such
a manner that it is impossible to escape, only leaving a small hole for
the purpose of feeding her during her long imprisonment; I do not know
how long she is thus kept in durance vile, but we have sometimes taken
the females out, and found them so cramped and weak as to be unable to
fly. This peculiar habit may be a precautionary measure, to protect
the female during the season of incubation, as she may be too dull and
exhausted to fly from approaching danger. Depend upon it, it is not done
in vain. We self-willed and presumptuous beings often act without reason
or reflection, but the birds of the air and the lilies of the field are
protected by a higher Power.'"