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