288 MIMICRY AND NATURAL SELECTION 



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 uphill, 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 

 erithonius, P. sarpedon, Charaxes athamas, Cyrestis thyo- 

 damits, and Terms hecabe. A meagre list, for I am certain 

 I saw the bee- eaters swoop for and catch Prioneris, Hebo- 

 moia, Junonia, and Precis. I also particularly noticed 

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

 for Papilio mac ar ens, and P. xenocles, which are mimics 

 of Danais, though two or three species of Danais, 

 four or five of Euploea, and the two above-mentioned 

 mimicking Papilios simply swarmed along the whole 

 road.' 1 



Looking through my diaries I find more scattered notes 

 of my having witnessed birds swoop for and catch butter- 

 flies and moths, but these were solitary incidents, and 

 only slight mention is made of them in the diaries, with 

 one exception, which is given below : — 



' Camp Wabosakhan, December 3, 1891. . . . Going 

 through some fairly open jungle close to the main road I put 

 up a Melanitis zitenius, which fluttered across the road and 

 was swooped at by a king-crow {Dicrurus), but missed ; 

 the butterfly dodged, got to the other side of the road 



1 I did not then realize the importance of my find, or I should have 

 spared more time for the collection of the fallen wings of the butter- 

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



