Production of Mimetic Resemhlances among Butterfiies. 341 



other birds; probably, I imagine, because commoner 

 than any other birds " : C. F. M. Svvynnerton (letter 

 dated 1, viii, 1907). — (/) "For the first time in my 

 life I saw this summer a sparrow pursue and catch a 

 Large Tortoiseshell that was flying round an elm 

 tree " : O. H. Latter (in a letter to Prof. Poulton, 

 dated 31, xii, 1902). — {m) A sparrow observed to eat 

 a Fieris rapae, of which it cut off the wings : L, H. 

 Harris, "Country-Side," 1907, p. 140.— (%) "Small Tor- 

 toiseshell chased by a sparrow, which only succeeded 

 in taking a piece out of one wing": J. R. Harding, 

 "Country-Side," 1907, p. 209 (England).— (o) "Last 

 year I bred a large number of the large white butterfly, 

 which emerged from the pupae this year. On letting 

 some of the butterflies go, two of them were im- 

 mediately seized by house sparrows, which only ate 

 the body and left the four wings behind. On two 

 other days the same thing happened. In all, four 

 were killed in this way, and they were all males": 

 G. Blackburn, " Country-Side," 1907, p. 211 (England). 

 — (p) " Sparrow seen to take a peacock butterfly in 

 full flight " : J. J. Towns, " Country-Side/' 1907, p. 307 

 (England). — {q) " From interesting and numerous 

 letters in answer to the question whether birds eat 

 butterflies, I find that thirty-eight correspondents 

 have seen the sparrow catch and in most cases devour 

 common white butterflies. . . , Five correspondents 

 have seen the sparrow eat the brimstone ; two have 

 seen it catch, or partly eat, the meadow-brown ; two 

 the small blue; one a large fritillary; and one a 

 tortoiseshell": The Editor, "Country-Side," 1903, 

 p. 290 (England).— (r) Prof. E. Penard of Geneva 

 saw a bird, probably a sparrow, persistently pursue 

 and at the third attempt capture a white butterfly 

 (probably a species of Fieris) " : Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 "Essays on Evolution," p. 282, note. 



6. Acanthis cannahina, L. (Linnet). To my astonishment 

 a linnet (Hanfling), which was singing on a tree-top, 

 suddenly became silent and swooping down adroitly 

 captured an antiopa " : B. Slevogt, Soc. Ent. Zurich, 

 xvii, 1901, p. 82 (Switzerland). 



6. Farus sp. (Tit), (a) "Captures with astonishing ac- 

 curacy the butterflies which flit about the trees " : 

 W. Caspari, " Soc. Ent. Zurich," 1901, p. 34.— (6) A 



