378 Mr. G. A. K. Marshall 071 



17. Experiments on a Captive Mungoose with Bird- 

 food. Warning Characters and distasteful 

 Qualities in South African Birds. (G. A. K. M.) 



[Although this section is strictly speaking outside the 

 scope of the present memoir, it is so closely associated 

 that I have ventured to include it. 



Mr. Frank Finn noticed that his mungoose, Crossarchits 

 fasciaUis, "appeared to be unwilling to attack birds, though 

 it did not seem to find tliem unpalatable " (" Natural 

 Science," vol. i,No. 10, December 1802, p. 746).— E. B. P.] 



Salislmry, Jan. 24, 1000. — I have been recently giving 

 my mungoose some wild biixls, and I was much interested 

 to note the result. It ate a dove {TuHur ca'pieola), 

 standard wing night-jar (Cosmctorius vexillarius), dwarf 

 goose {NcUcqnis aurittts), moorhen (Gallinula rhlorojnts), 

 and wheatear (SaxicoJa ]i'^lcata) ; while it emphatically 

 refused an owl {Asio ccqicnais), kestrel (Cerchneis onqn- 

 fo/o^'rf^s), buff-backed egret (Uerodias limdus),hohhy (Faico 

 suhbutco), and drongo [Burhanga assimilis). Its dislike of 

 the smell of the conimon and conspicuous blue-and-black 

 drongo was very marked, especially as it was hungry at 

 the time, and I had plucked the bird clean ; it made one 

 or two attempts to eat the meat, but finally gave it up. 

 In the case of tliis bird and the egret we would therefore 

 seem to have a case of true warning coloration. This is 

 also probably the case with the wood-hoopoes (Irrisor 

 and BJiinopomastus), which are very conspicuous both in 

 voice and colour — the latter being in both genera black 

 shot with metallic dark-blue or green, with a large white 

 speculum in the wing, and a long tail. 



Salislmry, June 26, 1900. — As to distastefulness in 

 birds I must further mention our wood-hoopoes, Irrisor 

 viridis and Illrinojwmastus cyanomelas, both of which emit 

 a strong unpleasant smell. They are both metallic greeni.sh- 

 blue birds with long fan-like tails and a conspicuous white 

 bar on the wings, differing principally in the shape and 

 colouring of the beak. They are also both very noisy, 

 frequently uttering their harsh, chattering cries, and 

 especially when alarmed. Another bird which has well- 

 known distasteful qualities is the ground horn-bill {Bncorax 

 caffer). Indeed the Zulus use it on that account for rain- 

 making ; they will kill one and throw it into a river, for 

 they say its smell makes the river sick, so that it calls 



