1904.] PACKARD— ORIGIN OF MARKINGS OF ORGANISMS. 401 



bird's bill, and my faith in that method of lessening their numbers 

 is very slight." 



Afterward, in a letter dated October 9, 1 901, he says : ''I believe 

 that in temperate countries butterflies at least are rarely attacked 

 by birds. I have myself seen proof only once in New England." 



Mr. F. P. Drowne informs me that he once saw a phoebe bird 

 catch Pieris rapcE, or a similar species, in Virginia. 



Mr. William Dearden tells me that he saw a pewee catch a small 

 butterfly, and a kingbird catch Pieris ?'ap(s. 



In Florida, as we have been informed by Mrs. Annie T. Slosson, 

 the mocking bird frequently chases butterflies, but she has not 

 observed any other bird thus occupied. 



In his *' Notes on the Food of Birds," 1901, Prof. Cockerell 

 gives no cases of butterflies being pursued and eaten by birds. 



Prof. W. M. Wheeler, of Austin, Tex., under date of February 6, 

 1902, informs me that he has never seen birds pursuing butterflies. 



My friend and pupil, Mr. T. E. B. Pope, tells me he once saw an 

 English sparrow pecking away at a Macrosila ^.-maculata ; he does 

 not know whether it caught it or found it crippled. Another 

 member of my class distinctly remembers seeing a kingbird catch 

 a butterfly; Mr. H. H. Hill, another pupil, saw a kingbird chase 

 and catch ** a small white butterfly," and another member of my 

 class. Miss Geraldine E. Street, has seen '*a sparrow chase a little 

 white butterfly." 



Prof. C. V. Weed, of Durham, N. H., writes that he saw an 

 Antiopa butterfly in the mouth of a Maryland yellow throat.^ 



Prof. E. A. Popenoe, of Manhattan, Kan., under date of Febru- 

 ary 3, 1902, writes: ''I have occasionally seen butterflies chased 

 by birds. So far as I can recall Pieris rapcE is the species." 



Mr. Wm. T. Davis writes November 4, 1901, that he ''observed 

 several English sparrows endeavoring to capture a Deilephila 

 lineata ; the moth flew in circles, while the sparrows made vain 

 efl"orts to head it off." It is quite a common thing to see them 

 catch such moths as Spilosoma virginica, and also Datana. " My 

 wife saw a bird (species not recognized) catch a little white butter- 

 fly, she thinks a cabbage butterfly, in the garden. I have not seen 

 birds catch butterflies, though I have seen great crested fly-catchers 

 and kingbirds catch small moths, etc. I once observed a chip- 

 munk capture a noctuid." 



^ See <' Nature Biographies,^^ 1903- 



