Great Hornbill, FDC



 New Delhi Cancellation

Country: India
Year: 15.09.1983, FDC
Bird: Great Hornbill  - Buceros bicornis

Bombay Cancellation

Hornbills are used as symbols in many places due to their elegance and mesmerizing beauty. Here is a story how a Hornbill became the symbol of an organization.

A Great Hornbill called William was the model for the logo of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the name of their building. The logo is depicted in the stamp and cancellation of the FDC. The logo was created in 1933, the silver-jubilee year of the Society's founding.

William lived on the premises of the Society from 1894 until 1920.

William

William was born in May 1894 and presented to the Society three months later. He reached his full length (1.30 m) by the end of his third year. His diet consisted of fruit, (like plantains and wild figs) and also of live mice, scorpions, and plain raw meat, which he ate with relish. He apparently did not drink water, nor use it for bathing. William was known for catching tennis balls thrown at him from a distance of some 30 feet with his beak.

Sir Norman Kinnear described William as follows in the obituary of W S Millard

“Every visitor to the Society's room in Apollo Street will remember the great Indian Hornbill, better known as the "office canary" which lived in a cage behind Millard's chair in Phipson & Co.'s office for 26 years and died in 1920. It is said its death was caused by swallowing a piece of wire, but in the past "William" had swallowed a lighted cigar without ill effects and I for my part think that the loss of his old friend was the principal cause."

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.