various Insects, Larvce, and Papm to Birds. 465 



appears to doubt the probability of lizards eating the males of 

 Orgyia antiqua or the motjis of Ahrawas gross idar lata) , as 

 follows : — " I frequently hung up the newly emerged Orgyia 

 females in my lizard-house, and as the doors were not made 

 by a cabinet-maker, but by myself, there was plenty of room 

 for the males to squeeze through ; the lizards used to sit by 

 the door, after seeing two or three males enter there, and 

 regularly snap them up and swallow thera as they entered 

 the cage or vivarium ; I have seen this dozens of times, and 

 am not mistaken, nor, for that matter, am I in the case of A. 

 grossulariata ; indeed, I accounted to myself for the fact that 

 the imago was eaten Avhere the larva w^as rejected, on the 

 supposition that the acridity of the larva was derived from 

 the gooseberry and that it had passed away during the pupal 

 stage." 



" Now, as to my birds: T have at present 95, of 32 species*, 

 and I have had the young of several other species during the 

 year, only they have died. 



^^Cerura vimduj larva. — Fought for, shaken to death, 

 banged on the floor of the cage (as a Thrusl\ bangs a snail), 

 the viscera devoured as shaken out, the blood pecked even 

 from the walls, and the elongated skin finally swallowed 

 whole [by three young Nightingales]. The tails did not 

 deter the Nightingales from attacking this larva for a second ; 

 indeed, they seized upon them as handles to pull by, much to 

 my astonishment, for they are somewhat spiny, 



'■'■ Mamestra brassicce, larva. — Eaten by all birds ; but Wry- 

 necks will not pick up any but the green variety ; the others 

 they will swallow when their beaks are opened and the larvae 

 administered as pills. 



^^ Orgyia antiqua, larva. — Eaten without hesitation (but 

 always after rubbing on the ground) by my Missel-Thrush. 



'•'•Halia wavaria [larva]. — Eaten by Nightingales, Sky- 

 larks, Thrushes, Canaries. 



'■'■Biston hirtaria, larva. — Eaten by Leiothrix (the Pekin 

 Nightingale). 



'■^Ganoris brassicce and rapcB [imago]. — Eaten by Nightin- 

 gales, Thrushes, Starlings, Blackbirds, Sedge- Warbler, 

 Weaver-birds, Leiothrix ; examined by Canaries, which, 

 however, were startled by their sudden movements ; eagerly 

 looked after by various species of Estrelda (small Waxbills), 

 but I would not trust so large a Lepidopteron with such timid 

 little creatures. 



* I subsequently purchased others, bringiuc^ the number at one time 

 up to 108 ; but many died before the end of the year, chiefly of typhoid 

 fever. 



