Birds capturing Butterflies 



fingers the cases in which we have seen a bird 

 chase a butterfly. 



Professor Poulton, being aware of this ob- 

 jection, sets forth, on pp. 283-292 of Essays on 

 Evolution, the evidence he has gathered in favour 

 of the view that birds are the chief enemies of 

 butterflies and other lepidoptera. 



As the result of five years' observation in S. 

 Africa, Mr G. A. K. Marshall was able to record 

 some eight cases of birds capturing butterflies. 

 In three cases the butterfly seized was warningly 

 coloured, or, at any rate, conspicuous ! In two 

 of these eight cases the bird failed to capture 

 its quarry ! 



Says Mr Marshall, "the fact that birds refrain 

 from pursuing butterflies may be due rather to 

 the difficulty in catching them than to any wide- 

 spread distastefulness on the part of these 



insects." 



During six years' observation in India and 

 Ceylon, Colonel Yerbury records some half 

 dozen cases of birds capturing, or attempting to 

 capture, insects. He writes : " In my opinion 

 an all-sufficient reason for the rarity of the 

 occurrence exists in the fact that in butterflies 

 the edible matter is a minimum, while the inedible 

 wings, etc., are a maximum." 



Colonel C. T. Bingham in Burma states that 

 between 1878 and 1891 he on two occasions 

 witnessed the systematic hawking of butterflies 



2 39 



