JJinh in Relation to their Prey. 415 



line with that of the SpJiingomorpha in the last experiment, a 

 temptation too strong for A — for P. hjceus has been by nearly 

 all my birds liked much better than P. angolaniis. But A's 

 general attitude was like that of some Bulbuls [Piicnonotus 

 lat/ardi) that I have since watched feeding a young bird. 

 If the latter were insutiiciently hungry for an insect brought, 

 this was always taken back and eaten by the parent, 



504. Jan. ] 1 (evening). — Five Papilio angolaniis. a Hypo- 

 Umnas misippiis, four Precis natale?isis, a I^ejjtis agatha (wings 

 and all), and an Atella plialantha were eaten between them 

 by the three Hoopoes. No refusals, so the experiment merely 

 indicates readiness to eat certain butterflies under certain 

 conditions of appetite. 



505. Jan. 12. — B ate three Terias, and A ate three Teriaa, 

 wings and all, but took the next three by the wings and 

 dropped them without further tasting. He ate, in the course 

 ot the experiment, four Precis natalensis (wet-season), nine 

 P. artaxia, and one each of P. arcliesia (w^et-season), 

 P. cenjne, and P. cehrene — all these in rapid succession. He 

 showed more and more eagerness during the offering of the 

 nine P. artaxia, towards the end passing his bill through 

 the crack in the wood through which I was passing them 

 directly the preceding one was swallowed, and pushing and 

 fumbling eagerly through till the next one came. 



506. Jan. 13. — An interesting experiment. I placed in 

 the birds^ food-dish two Dunaida chrysippus (a large chestnut 

 butterfly with a white bar across the fore-wing tip, common 

 everywhere and believed to be highly nauseous) and four 

 dull Noctnid moths, Sphingomorplia cJdorea. A and B at 

 once tackled the latter, eagerly eating them all after stripping 

 them of wings. A gave one thorax to C. He then picked 

 up a Danaida clu'ysippns by the wing in a gingerly manner 

 and dropped it again, and both birds (A and B) then retired 

 to th( ir perches and took no further notice of the butterflies. 



I then offered, in the usual way, through the crack, a 

 Dancdda chrysippus. The wings were not seen, as I only 

 placed the body in the crack. A, watching eagerly for what 

 was coming through, tasted the thorax and refused to have 



