414 PACKARD— ORIGIN OF MARKINGS OF ORGANISMS. [Dec. 2, 



of attacks on butterflies by wild South African birds. He remarks : 

 ** Personally I do not suppose I have seen such an occurrence more 

 than perhaps half a dozen times, the birds being the paradise fly- 

 catcher i^Terpsiphone perspicillata), the bee- eater {^Merops apiaster), 

 and two rollers ( Coracias spatulata and Eurysto?nus ofer) ; but then 

 I admit that I have paid little or no attention to the matter until 

 quite recently." This was in a letter written in Natal, October 7, 

 1897. After this, as Prof. Poulton states, Mr. Marshall kept a careful 

 record of his observations. At Durban he saw a paradise fly-catcher 

 catch a specimen of Eronia cleodora, seizing it with its feet^ and 

 carry it off". In 1898 he saw a Marico wood shrike (^Bradyoniis 

 mariquensis) dart down from a tree and catch a Sarangesa eli?ninata 

 (Holl.) which was sitting with outspread wings on a small plant. 

 He saw a bush kingfisher {Halcyon chelicutensis) catch and eat two 

 butterflies (^Ju?ionia cebrene 2iWA Catopsilia florella)^ both of which 

 were captured when feeding. He also saw a fly-catcher {Pachy- 

 prora molitor) make several futile attempts to catch a Tarucus 

 plinius. A drongo {Buchanga assimilis) was seen flying past with a 

 white butterfly (probably C. floreila) in its beak. Remains of a 

 Papilio de7nodocus were found in the stomach of a cuckoo (^Coccyster 

 caffef). 



In 1899 a paradise fly-catcher passed by and with a loud snap of its 

 beak tried to catch a butterfly {Atella phalantha)^ which escaped, 

 though the bird had cut off the tip of one wing. A hobby {Falco 

 subbuteo) had in its stomach an almost entire Terias. He saw a 

 drongo catch a white moth, and almost at once drop another white 

 moth of the distasteful genus Diacrisia {D. maculosa). An observer 

 at Gazaland saw a South African stonechat (^Pi-aiincola torquata) in 

 chase of a Tarucus plinitis^ and he saw the wings of a lot of butter- 

 flies (chiefly P. corift?teus) below the branch of a tree on which some 

 swallows were constantly settling. Marshall saw a drongo hawking 

 insects from the top of a dead tree. ** There were many Pierince 

 about, chiefly Teracolus and Belenois, but the bird paid not the 

 leastjattention to them." At last one with broken wings went by so 

 that its flight was weak and erratic ; the drongo swooped down on 

 it, but the butterfly dropped into the long grass. *' This episode 

 would point to the conclusion that the fact that birds refrain from 

 pursuing butterflies may be due rather to the difficulty in catching 

 them, than to any widespread distastefulness on the part of these 

 insects." 



