Hydrocorax planicornis [Flat-Casque Hornbill]

Description

original-colour lithograph, with accompanying text. #2/5. 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.

Modern taxonomy no longer treats the planicornis as a separate species, instead incorporating it within the Rufous Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax) complex. Endemic to the Philippines, the Flat-Casque hornbills are restricted to native forests across several Philippine islands and play an important ecological role as seed dispersers in tropical forest ecosystems. The species survives today but faces ongoing conservation challenges resulting from deforestation and hunting pressure.