SHORT CUTS BY BIRDS TO NECTARIES. 383 
of which had not been pierced by individuals of this species’ [ Chalcomitra 
senegalensis, (Linn.) Shelley | ‘or of Cinnyris cupreus, (Shaw) Shelley [* Ibis,’ 
1892, p. 219]. 7” 
My own observations were all carried out many months before I had an 
opportunity of reading of the work of others on the subject, and now that I 
come to do so, it is interesting to me to find that what I have seen occurring 
in South-East Africa also occurs in other parts of the world. It encourages 
me to believe that the instances of discriminative damage and discriminative 
utilization of damage that I shall describe are likewise perhaps by no means 
isolated. 
3. The present observations.—T had carried out my earlier observations 
on Canna indica, and was actually engaged on my resulting investigation of 
Leonotis mollissima and Erythrina Humeana, when Professor Poulton, ever 
helpful and stimulating, presented me with a copy of Thomas Belt’s fasci- 
nating * Naturalist in Nicaragua.’ This—and especially Belt’s application to 
the thickened calyx of a Nicaraguan Ærythrina of the explanation (though in 
reference to insect attacks) that my observation of the actual results of bird 
attacks had already suggested to me for certain features of Ærythrina 
naturally whetted my interest greatly, and I 
Нитеапа and the Leonotis 
subsequently carried out the majority of the observations that I now propose 
to record. They are still far too scanty and incomplete, but Professor Poulton 
has been kind enough to urge that they may nevertheless be worth pub- 
lishing. All were carried out in the neighbourhood of the Chirinda Forest 
in the Melsetter district of Southern Rhodesia. 
I have found a roughly chronological order the most convenient, but the 
plants and birds observed have been stated in systematic order in the final 
lists. 
D. OBSERVATIONS ON CANNA INDICA, Linn., var. ORIENTALIS, Rosc., 
AND OTHER SPECIES. 
The following was my first actual note on the subject of this paper :— 
* June 25th, 1911. I have several times in the past few months noticed 
small sunbirds probing the bases of Canna flowers in the garden, evidently 
through an artificially made opening. A little female Cinnyris chalybous, 
(Linn.) Shelley, has been doing it a good deal during the last three or four 
days, and to-day after her departure I went down and examined seven flowers, 
each of which I had watched her probe in this way. One had two small 
holes and each of the others one, all in more or less the same position, namely 
just above the outer whorl of the perianth and through the base of one of the 
inner segments. Only one of the eight was a perfectly fresh puncture, the 
edges of the remainder being already more or less dry and brown. Evidently 
an old hole had been utilised wherever 16 existed. 
