Birds in' Relation to their Prey. 71 



at first when very hungry), meat (offered now for the first 

 time, and eaten readily and in quantity), and grasshoppers. 

 He had begun to show some slight disinclination over some 

 of these, but was still accepting greedily a species that is 

 also my drongo^s favourite when I commenced to offer 

 butterHies. 



He showed a distinct previous acquaintance with the latter, 

 for he very readily accepted and ate a dark brown skipper 

 {^Baoris fatuellus), but refused for a time to have anything 

 at all to do with a female Acrcea areca, and on my with- 

 drawing and reoffering it once more refused it. As I per- 

 sisted in holding it to him, however, he finally took it, 

 crushed it slightly, and threw it away. He then refused to 

 touch an Amauris alhimavulafa or a vaoXe Mylotliris agathina 

 (a white Pierine with orange wing-bases and a strong scent), 

 but very readily accepted, crushed, and after holding it for 

 a few seconds (result of relative repletion ?) swallowed a 

 Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui). 



A little later he again refused the AcrcBa areca and 

 Amauris alhimaculata, as also a Mylothris yulei and a IMylo- 

 thris rueppelli, but tried to seize a Pseudacrcea lucretia var. 

 expansa. It would be interesting to know whether he 

 actually recognized it or perhaps associated it with the 

 commoner Neptis agatlia. The Pseudacra'a's "model,'' 

 Amauris ochlea, has been absent from this locality for a very 

 long time. I withdrew it, requiring it for other experiments, 

 and offered the brown Satyrine Yptliima (near impura}. 

 This the Hornbill refused to touch, but he at once, and with 

 the greatest readiness, accepted and 'ate a Neptis saclava; 

 wished to take a Papilio lyams, but I reserved it; again 

 refused the Yptldma, but readily accepted and, after crush- 

 ing it well, swallowed a large brown-and-white skipper, 

 Rhopalocampta forestan. He then descended and })icked up, 

 tried, and threw away a dry lump of mingled earth, excre- 

 ment, &c., that was lying in a corner of the cage and had 

 probably caught his eye far above. 



Towards evening a dense mist had blown up while I was 

 feeding the bird, and the light in the verandah was so bad 



