370 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall on Birds as a Factor in the 



30. Microhierax fringiUarius, Drap. (Black-legged Fal- 

 conet), («) On 25 March, 1877, in Tenasserim, a 

 nest of this species was found in a hole in a tree. 

 " At the bottom of the hole, which was about eighteen 

 inches deep, was a soft pad composed of flies and 

 butterflies' wings, mixed with small pieces of rotten 

 wood" : J. Davidson, quoted by A. O. Hume, " Stray 

 Feathers," v, 1877, p. 81.— (6) This Falconet was 

 ob.^erved hawking Papilio eiiqjedodes at Sarawak, 

 Borneo, in Sept. 1897: R. Shelford {in Htf.).—{c) 

 "Though feeding on birds, as a rule smaller, but 

 undoubtedly occasionally larger than itself, the chief 

 food probably of this little Falcon is insects of various 

 sorts, (h-agonflies, beetles and butterflies. I say 

 butterflies, for, although I have never found the 

 distinguishable remains of butterflies in those I have 

 examined, I have no doubt that they do capture but- 

 terflies largely, and of all sizes, for the nest of a pair 

 that I found at B>ankasoon [Burma] consisted of a 

 pad composed entirely of insect-wings, and the mass 

 of these were those of butterflies": W. Davison, 

 "Stray Feathers," vi, 1878, p. 5. 



31. Microliicrax coerulescens, L. (Red-legged Falconet), {a) 



This bird was observed on March 20, 1881, in Burma, 

 to capture and eat a Papilio sarpcdon : Lt.-Col. 

 C. T. Bingham, Trans. Ent. Soc, 1902, p. 364.— (6) 

 From a nest of this species found in Burma in March 

 1878, the following butterflies' wings were taken — 

 Mycalcsis j^ersev.s, Precis oritJtya, Symphacdra dirtea $, 

 Charaxes sp., Papilio erithonius, Pajyilio caunvs, and 

 some unidentified species of Lycaenidae : Lt.-Col. 

 Bingham, /. c. p. 365. — (c) Another nest of the same 

 species, also found in Burma, contained " a fairly firm 

 pad of chips of wood, a few leaves, with an upper 

 stratum quite tw^o inches thick, composed almost 

 entirely of the wings of cicadas, with a few butterfly 

 and moth wings interspersed therein " : Lt.-Col. 

 Bingham, "Zoologist" (4), 1901, p. 224. 



32. Birds not identified : — 



(a) A specimen of the Lycaenid, Panchala apidaims, 

 was certified by Mr. Godfeiy to have been mutilated 

 by a bird : W. L. Distant, " Rhop. Malayana," p. 274. 

 — (h) " I have never seen a bird seize one of the often 

 very common, slow-moving and fearless, reddish-brown 



