60 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



not one's bird is catching an insect. (Mr. Pocock's experience Zool. 

 Soc. Land., lyil, page 810, bears this conviction out, since birds are 

 quite as shy outdoors as indoors, and I note Dr. Chapman holds the 

 same opinion as we have arrived at Prac Knt. Soc. Loud., 1909, viii.) 



Mr. Colthrup surmises that birds rely on their beaks when looking 

 for insects, again I cannot agree. I have watched Tits and other 

 birds feeding for many hours with the aid of a powerful pair of x80 

 binocular telescopes by a maker of admitted reputation. I find that all 

 searching birds rely on eyes and ears almost exclusivel)'. (I here 

 remark that I do not include the long billed Charadriifurines). Dr. 

 A. G. Butler remarks, Travs. Knt. Sue. Land., 1910, p. 153, " he (sc. 

 ihe bird) sees the legs and immediately approaches and pecks it." 

 That is it uses its eyes first. The Thrush (JlHrdns intisicKs) certainly 

 relies on eye and ear alone ; when worm hunting I believe on ear, 

 when insect hunting mostly on eye. 



The Tits again rely entirely on the eye, using the bill only for 

 testing what their eye has revealed, and they certainly conduct a 

 detailed minute and exacting search of all the bushes, small boughs of 

 trees, horizontal limbs of trees, horizontal rails of palings, etc., in 

 their vicinity (not trunks as Mr. Colthrup suggests), such a scrutiny 

 that one would almost think that the most perfect crj-ptic coloration 

 would fail to defy it. 



The iNuthatch {Sitta ca/'sia), the Tree Creeper {Cert/n'a fcoiiiliaris), 

 the Woodpeckers {(jrerinns riridis, Dendrncnpus major and ]). minor), 

 on the other hand, affect the trunks and large limbs almost exclusively, 

 and they too scrutinize and do not use their bills till something 

 attracts their attention. With the Woodpeckers, however, they do 

 deliberately knock off chunks of bark and then scrutinize the area 

 laid bare. My brother and I watched Ihndrocopus major (the Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker) doing this in the Spring (at very close quarters 

 indeed, fortunately unbeknown to D. major, who failed to detect our 

 proximity for quite ten minutes). 



The Warblers and Gold-crests seem, too, to rel}^ entirely on sight, 

 but also seem to me to confine their search almost exclusively to the 

 leafy parts of trees and bushes. 



Daidias liisci)iia (the Nightingale), a dire enemy of insect life, I 

 must reluctantly put on one side. He searches the undergrowth, but is 

 so shy and so retiring that I honestly cannot say that I can call to 

 mind a single instance in which I have seen this bird m active 

 pursuit of food. 



FJritJiaca riibccula (the Robin) relies on eye, and is a ground and 

 tree trunk feeder. The Chats Sa.n'cola oenantlie (the Wbeatear), 

 Pratincola nibicola (the Stone-chat) and P. riibctra (the Whinchat) 

 are ground and small bush-feeding birds, and undoubtedly rely on eye 

 alone. I'asser doiiipsticus (the Common Sparrow) searches by eye 

 alone, of that I am convinced. 



With regard to birds that kill on the wing, they one and all rely 

 upon eye I believe. I am ready to admit that they may hear the 

 rustle and click of an insect's wing, as I used to be able to hear it, but 

 can. alas ! no longer do. 



Rev. K. St. Aubyn Rogers points out. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1908, 

 page 498), that tropical butterflies rest at a time when tropical birds 

 are most active in pursuit of food, and it should be borne in mind 



