464 Mr. A. G. Butler on the Effect of offering 
birds *,—I think I cannot do better than publish the whole of 
my observations in detail. 
I may mention here that in my late paper, whilst speaking 
of the behaviour of my birds when confronted with Zeuzera 
esculi, | had quite forgotten how eagerly in years past my 
Bulbul had devoured the species. How Mr. Poulton over- 
looked the fact that my tiny Waxbills did not hesitate to 
attack a full-grown (female of) Epecra diademata ou the 4th 
September I cannot say; it is only one out of numerous 
instances which I could adduce to show that even the smallest 
birds do not consider size where they see a luxury before 
them. Wagtails ave nervous over large spiders, but Blue 
Tits, Robins, Nightingales, and numerous other insectivorous 
birds prefer them to small ones; even the most awful-looking 
Tegenaria domestica is eagerly seized by a Blue Tit, and the 
poplar hawk-moth has no chance in an aviary with that 
plucky little acrobat. 
The notes which I now propose to publish én eatenso com- 
mence in the form of letters written to Mr. Poulton, and are, 
by that gentleman’s wish, continued in the form of a diary. 
In the original MS. I recorded everything, whether interesting 
to Mr. Poulton or not, because it saved me from keeping a 
double diary ; as, however, the account of my purchases or 
losses by death are not to the purpose (since the causes of 
death proved to be in no way connected with diet), I do not 
think it necessary to repeat them here. 
I may mention that, previous to the preparation of my 
notes, Mr. Poulton was kind enough to express his willingness 
that I should put them in print myself, and although I did not 
then wish to do so, his late irritation at my publication of a 
few facts has somewhat altered my intention. It is true that 
my birds at the present time are in a more natural condition 
than they were in 1887, since at that time they were in rather 
a confined space, whereas now they have abundance of room 
for flight and opportunities for catching much insect-food ; 
but in 1887 my birds were by no means ever allowed to be 
hungry, and not a few of them, and more especially the 
finches, when opened after death, have shown too clearly that 
excess of good living has been the sole cause of their demise. 
I shall now proceed to quote trom the letters containing my 
earlier notes, and then pass on to my regular diary. My first 
letter refers to one or two footnotes to Mr. Poulton’s paper in 
the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ (in which he 
* One might imagine from Mr. Poulton’s remark that the larva of 
Stauropus fagi left the egg full-grown. 
