various Insects, Larvce, and Pwpce to Birds. 467 



liad to separate them, in consequence of their fighting ahnost 

 incessantly in the vicious manner of adult birds. 



" With regard to Orgyia ? : my lizards never ate it, and 

 I could not understand why, as they must sometimes have 

 seen it hanging on a bramble-leaf in the vivarium or feebly 

 kicking on its back after laying its unfertilized eggs. 



" Wj sole remaining Wryneck is at present strong and 

 lively, and readily picks up caterpillars, especially green ones ,* 

 mealworms and earwigs it licks, bat they are too smooth and 

 hard-shelled to suit its taste. I find, however, that it will eat 

 the commo7i house-fly in all stages, including the pupa, which 

 it picks up with its bill, not with its tongue. 



" As to instinctive likes or dislikes : my little Sedge- 

 Warbler is fond of Pieris brassicce, chases him over the cage 

 until he has pinned him down, and then knocks him about 

 until little more than the body remains, and this he swallows ; 

 in his natural state I do not believe the Sedge- Warbler would 

 even look at anything so big, there being plenty of small flies 

 and spiders amongst the reeds and sedges. I much doubt 

 whether a Missel-Thrush would chase a white butterfly if at 

 liberty ; but in a large cage he does so in the most reckless 

 manner, sometimes quite damaging his appearance by cutting 

 his face against the wires in his eagerness to seize his prey. 



" Generally speaking, when I say that an insect is eaten 

 by any sj^ecies, it has not been tried with any other ; in the 

 case of Fterostichus madidus, however, the Missel-Thrush has 

 eaten it ; he and the Nightingales have both eaten the common 

 cockroach with evident relish, 



" About a month since a man brought me about a dozen 

 full-grown larvffi of the large cockchafer [Melolontha), which 

 were greedily eaten by the Missel-Thrush, Song-Thrush, 

 Blackbird, Skylark, and Bulbul ; the dirty stains all over the 

 walls of their cages remain to this day. 



" Yesterday my Missel-Thrush and one of my Starlings 

 took the grey-tailed humble-bee, and after a few rubs swal- 

 lowed them whole ; the Starling certainly swallowed his alive 

 and kicking.'^ 



My third letter merely gives the results recorded on the 

 first day of my diary, which commenced on the 



16th August. 



Offered larva of Acronycta alni to Missel-Thrush j crushed 

 and contents eaten ; skin left. 



Vanessa urticce (larva). — Oftered to Weaver-birds and 

 Brambliiig ; rejected without trial. To Nightingale ; killed 



