22 Mr. J. Jonner Weir on 



The imago of Smlosnma vientliadri was refused by the 

 Ballfineh and Chaffinch ; picked np by the Yellow- 

 hammer, but dropped ; tiisted by the Reoi Banting, but 

 not relished, and soon dropped ; the latter bird, however, 

 attracted by the fluttering insect, returned to it, and 

 ultimately swallowed it. Soilosoma meutJiastri was also 

 eaten by the Robin. I had been led to expect that this 

 insect would bo refused by all the birds ; it was certainly 

 not eaten with avidity, but on the contrary, after much 

 hesitation. 



All perfect Lo,}nclo]}tera apparently require preparation 

 before they arc swallowed by birds ; they are taken be- 

 tween the mandibles, shaken and bruised for a minute 

 or two, and generally have the wings removed before 

 they are eaten. This often afibrds a strong moth a good 

 chance of escape, and such day-flying species as the genus 

 Triphcena, which jump about in ajerking manner, and soon 

 conceal themselves amongst the herbage, would, in a state 

 of nature, almost always slip away from their tormentors. 

 I have, even on the floor of my aviary, seen the struggle 

 between the bird and the insect prolonged for several 

 minutes. Triphama lyroiniba is very slippery, and the 

 flight is but little impeded by the partial destruction of 

 the under-wings, which by their yellow colour attract the 

 bird^s attention, and are, therefore first attacked, and, 

 perhaps, mutilated ; so that the difliculty of its capture 

 compensates for its greater liability to pursuit, owing to 

 its diurnal habits. 



Other brightly-coloured day-flying Bcterocera, such as 

 Anthrocera Jilipenclidce, which ill no way attempts con- 

 cealment, and is of sluggish habits, were unwillingly 

 eaten, but I am by no means inclined to attach undue 

 import:ince to this fact, because the birds, being- in con- 

 finement, and deprived mainly of their usual insect food, 

 might readily be expected to eat insects, which, in a 

 state of nature, with a less limited choice, they would 

 reject. 



It is characteristic of many genera of day-flying Lejn- 

 doptera Hcterocera, that they have brightly-coloured, and 

 more or less ornamented under-wings, and very dull 

 gray or brown up]3er-wings, quite concealing the former 

 when at rest ; these under-wings are of various colours, 

 for instance, silvery in Agrotis ; yellow in Triphcena, 

 Anarta, and other genera ; crimson, red, or blue ia 

 Catocala and CallimorjjJta. 



