302 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall on 



tree, and sat still for a minute or so, then came a little 

 jerk of the head, and the wings of the butterfly came 

 fluttering to the ground, while the body was gulped. On 

 the same branch some four or five more bee-eaters of the 

 same species were seated, and as I sat very still, one after 

 another these birds swooped close to me, sometimes after 

 a butterfly, sometimes at a bee or a dragon-fly. More 

 than once I saw a bird miss a butterfly, when the latter 

 would dodge and try to get away among the bushes of the 

 dense undergrowth around, but only very seldom was this 

 successful, for the bird would hover and twist and turn in 

 hot pursuit, and generally managed to catch the insect. 

 I was greatly interested, for though I had seen both bee- 

 eaters and king-crows {Dierums) go for butterflies and 

 moths, this was the first time I had witnessed a continuous 

 hawking of butterflies on the part of birds. I sat for 

 nearly half-an-hour watching. The birds seemed to 

 swoop only for the insects flying about, never at those on 

 the ground. A drove of pack bullocks with their shouting 

 Shan drivers coming down the road frightened the bee- 

 eaters, and they flew off. I got up and prepared to start 

 up-hill, when it struck me that it would be interesting to 

 see what species of butterfly had been taken by the bee- 

 eaters, so I set to work and collected all the loose wings I 

 could find. I did not get many, for the undergrowth was 

 very dense, and the wings dropped in it were difficult to 

 find. Also the place swarmed with ants, I could see them 

 on all sides carrying off whole wings, or portions bitten 

 out of them. Again I was pressed for time, so that I 

 managed to get together only nineteen wings, most of them 

 odd ones luckily. ... I have just sorted out and put away 

 my collections of the day. The butterflies hawked and 

 eaten by the bee-eaters belong to the following species — 

 Papilio erithonms, P. sarpedon, Charaxes atliamas, Cyrestis 

 thyodaimts, and Terias hecahe. A meagre list, for I am 

 certain I saw the bee-eaters swoop for and catch Frioncris, 

 Hehom.oia, Junonia, and Precis. I also particularly noticed 

 that the birds never went for a Danais or Fuplcea, or for 

 Papilio macarcus, and P. xenoclcs, which are mimics of 

 Danais, though two or three species of Danais, four or five 

 of Euplcea, and the two above-mentioned mimicking 

 Papilios simply swa.rmed along the whole road." * 



* I did not tlien realize tlie importance of my find, or I should 

 liave spared more time for the collection of the fallen wings of the 

 butterflies, and taken more care of them. — C. T. B. 



