Hydrocorax semigaleatus. [Semi-Helmeted Hornbill]

Description

original-colour lithograph, with accompanying text. VERY RARE.

Stunning Hornbill lithograph from Daniel Giraud Elliot’s A Monograph of the Bucerotidae, or Family of the Hornbills. Considered the first comprehensive study of the hornbill family, covering their distribution across Africa and Asia as well as their unusual nesting behaviour, including the sealing of the female within a tree cavity during incubation. Illustrated by John Gerrard Keulemans and printed by M. & N. Hanhart, the work is noted for its finely detailed and highly regarded ornithological plates. The Semi-Helmeted Hornbill is now classified as a subspecies of the Rufous Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax), a spectacular hornbill endemic to the Philippines. The semigaleatus form occurs principally in the Visayan Islands, including Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Biliran, and nearby islands, where it inhabits tropical lowland and montane forests. Although threatened by habitat loss and hunting, the bird remains extant and is one of the Philippines’ most distinctive endemic hornbills.