228 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



among which latter PolypoZiwm scandens and Bymenophyllwm, 

 Tunbridgense, are prominent. It may be mentioned that in the 

 gardens of Australia the Magnolia grandiflora and the Lilium 

 grand! florum flower and thrive to perfection, though only introduced 

 recently into the Island continent. The purple variety of the Mag- 

 nolia is a garden beauty. With its rich golden crowns of flowers, 

 rendered all the more visible by the purple tint of the large widely 

 open petals, the plant is strikingly attractive. 



(To be continued.) 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

 TWO CURIOUS INSTANCES OF MIMICRY. 



Two remarkable instances of mimicry have come under my notice within the last 

 few weeks, one by a bird, the other in an insect. I will give them in the order in 

 which I have mentioned them. 



At p. 150 of the 4th vol. of this Journal, Mr. Morris published an account of a 

 talking "Madras Bulbul" {Pycnonotus hccmorrhous), which in captivity learned to 

 talk by mimicing a parrot with which it associated. A few days before the 

 meeting of the Society at which that paper was read by the Honorary Secre- 

 tary, I happened to pass his house, and in a small acacia tree in his compound, which 

 overhangs the road about 10 yards below his lower gate, I heard the well-known 

 note of the " Coppersmith*' {Xantholcema Indica), but though the leaves were so 

 small and scanty that I could see through the tree on all sides, the only bird I 

 could see in it was a Madras bulbul, who on my looking up greeted me with his 

 usual chuckle. I called to mind the well-known powers of concealment enjoyed 

 by the coppersmith, and his ventriloquial skill. But seeing how ill-adapted his 

 present perch was for the successful employment of his usual artifices, I deter- 

 mined this once at least to circumvent them. As I approached the tree I 

 heard the coppersmith and the bulbul apparently conducting an animated 

 dialogue, in which the '• took-took" of the one was spiritedly answered 

 by the "chuckle-chuck " of the other. Still I could see only the 

 bulbul. It was raining slightly, and that reminded me that it was an unusual 

 time of the year for the coppersmith to be so loud and persistent in his 

 call, for the " took-took," so familiar during the hot weather, generally becomes 

 less frequent and more feeble during the rains. 1 got close under the tree, and 

 though I could see every twig in it, and there was the bulbul hopping about, and 

 chuckling, some four feet from my head, and though the coppersmith still kept 

 vociferating "took-took," apparently just behind him, yet not a feather could 

 I see of any bird but the bulbul. Determined to have a sight of the coppersmith 

 that was hiding itself so cleverly, I threw up a good sized stone into the tree, 

 when out flew — the bulbul alone with a derisive chuckle, into the opposite 

 den, where I presently heard the dialogue going on again as if it had nevei 

 been interrupted. 



