852 «R. If. I. P0< i>< K ON THE 



keen, and ultimately allowed a female Black Tanager to rob him 

 of it. The Tanager behaved in just the same way, pecking and 

 pulling it about and breaking it to pieces, but gradually losing 

 her interest. Ai lasl she picked up a piece of the thorax and 

 new to a hush with it. leaving the remainder on the ground. I 

 could not see what became of bhe piece she Hew away with, but 

 she emerged from the bush without it, and wiped her beak on 

 a perch. She made no attempl bo go back to the bits on bhe 

 ground. A Sibia bried these, but after a peck or two left them, 

 and no other insectivorous bird in that compartmenl took the 

 least notice of them. So I picked up the abdomen and gave it to 

 the Earmonious Shrike-Thrush which had just finished off the 

 example of B. kortorum, mentioned below, and be ultimately ate 

 it after a great deal of pecking and pulling about. 



Humble Bee {Bombus hortorum). 



May 31, 1909. One living example fell to the ground of the 

 aviary when firsl liberated. Two Fantailed Flycatchers flew 

 down to it at once, but although interested would not touch it; 

 while they were hesitating the bee took wing and escaped, none 

 of the I'inls in the aviary making any attempt at pursuit. 



One dead specimen offered to a Shama. She allowed me to 

 hold it close to her beak, but would not touch it. None of the 

 other birds in the aviary would notice it when thrown to the 

 ground, though on a previous occasion they had shown great 

 eagerness in seizing dead butterflies. I then gave it through the 

 bars to the Harmonious Shrike-Thrush in the next compartment. 

 After pecking and pulling it about for six or seven minutes, he 

 nil imately ate it. 



July 31, 1909. One sniffed at but rejected by two Meerkats ; 

 taken by a third and eaten. 



One pecked and flicked away l>\ Black headed Sibia, by Shama 

 and also by Sun-Bittern, each making two or three attempts. 

 Then carried off by female Black Tanager, but dropped to the 

 floor, where a North American Cat-bird tried it once or twice, but 

 gave it up. (The remains were now too mangled to be useful for 

 further experiment.) 



I could not induce the Fantailed Flycatcher to take any notice 

 of this bee. 



Conclusion. These experiments indicate thai the Humble Bees 

 used for bhe tests were much more palatable to the mammals than 



to the birds. With the exception of bhe < sample of />. la/ii- 



dariu8 which was .smelt and left untouched by two Meerkats, all 



the bees offered to the Monkeys and Meerkats were eaten without, 

 any kind of dislike of the flavour being evinced. The Meerkat 

 that rubbed the /!. lapidarius in the sawdust did so, I suspect, to 

 remove some substance offensive to his sense of smell. On the 

 other hand, of the lards to which the bees were offered only three 

 [44] 



