236 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



Delias eucharis and swallow-tail Papilio aristolochia, 

 and of these only the two first species of Danais 

 mentioned were at all like each other in colour, 

 though I must admit that they could all have been 

 distinguished by pattern also. 



The common Babblers I worked with appeared 

 to be deceived by the resemblance of the female 

 Nepberonia hippia to Danais limniace, though this 

 is not very exact ; and two species of Drongo 

 Shrike by the resemblance between the swallow- 

 tail above mentioned and the mimicking form of 

 another species (P. demoleus) which is extraordinarily 

 like the very unpalatable aristolo chics except in 

 having the abdomen black like most of the wings, 

 instead of scarlet like the spots on the hinder pair 

 of these, a distinction which was not so conspicuous 

 in life as it sounds in print. The intelligent little 

 Pekin Robin, however, was not to be deceived by 

 this very close mimic, but it was taken in by the 

 extraordinarily perfect resemblance of the female 

 Hypolimnas misippus to Danais chrysippus, a re- 

 semblance which is one of the " show horses " of 

 the theory of warning coloration and mimicry, 

 and usually deceives human entomologists if un- 

 prepared for it. 



Speaking of birds' mistakes, I once saw a very 

 amusing one made by a cock Sparrow in Calcutta, 

 which flew down and picked up what he evidently 

 mistook for a beetle, the creature really being a 

 very small specimen of the local toad (Bufo melano- 

 stictus) ; and from the movements of his bill after 



