340 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall ooi Birds as a Factor in the 



4. Passer domesticus, L. (Sparrow), (a) " I have frequently 

 seen the common sparrow chase and capture such 

 butterflies as V. vrticac and P. rajme " : T. G. B. 

 (Cambridge), "Nature," iii, 1870, p. 166.— (i) "I have 

 noticed . . . three sparrows for some time chase and 

 eventually capture a female Epinephile janira " : R. 

 Trimen, Proc. Ent. Soc. L., 1897, p. xci (England). — 

 (c) " I have certainly observed sparrows catching 

 butterflies": W. Caspari, Soc. Ent. Zurich, xvi, 1901, 

 p. 34 (Switzerland). — (d) A sparrow observed " chasing 

 a specimen of Vanessa urticac, at Whitstable, which 

 it captured": C. W. Colthrup, "Entomologist," 1903, 

 p. 173. — (e) " I can remember having once witnessed 

 a sparrow chase and catch a fine specimen of Argynnis 

 adijipe " : C. Floersheim, " Ent. Record," 1906, p. 36.— 

 (/)"In my garden at Munich a Vanessa c.- alburn 

 was pursued and captured by a sparrow, on the 3rd 

 July, 1906": Dr. Franz Doflein {in Iitt.).—{g) "In 

 the experiments in rearing Vanessidae in Battersea 

 Park [London] a few summers ago . . . the sparrows 

 at once found out the difference between those reared 

 under glass and the wild ones, and soon exterminated 

 them": E. T. Daubenv, "Nature Notes," Oct., 1905, 

 p. 197.— (70 "June 7, 1906. Kensington Gardens 

 [London]. In the wide grassy space east of the 

 palace, passing down to the Serpentine, I saw a large 

 Vanessa (looking like V. piolijcldoros) flying in the 

 sunshine. It was pursued by a sparrow, which made 

 two ineffectual attempts to catch it and then desisted. 

 The chase was immediately taken up by another 

 sparrow, and pursuer and pursued disappeared from 

 view among the trees" : Dr. F. A. Dixey {in litt.). — 

 (■i) At Fawley, near Southampton, on the 13th June, 

 1907, I myself saw a sparrow catch and eat a Pieris 

 rapae. — (j) " The sparrow, I have frequently observed, 

 attacks Pieris hrassieae and P. rapae on the wing, but 

 is not very successful as a rule. I can only remember 

 two instances of capture. I have also seen it on 

 three occasions attack Macroglossa steJlatarum, but in 

 every case unsuccessfully": W. Parkinson Curtis (in 

 a letter to Prof. Poulton, dated 22, ix, 1905).— (^0 

 " Colonel Coussmaker remarked to me that he had 

 seen sparrows taking butterflies, including the 

 common ' whites,' far more frequently than any 



