The Origin of the Markings of Caterpillars. 331 



campa Elpenor, did not give the insect any time 

 for manoeuvring 1 , but killed it immediately by a 

 strong blow with its bill. This bird had been 

 tame for years, and was in the habit of pecking at 

 everything thrown to him. Perhaps a wild jay 

 (Garrulus Glandariiis) would have treated the 

 insect differently, but it is hardly possible that such 

 a large and courageous bird would have much 

 respect for our native caterpillars. I now turned 

 to wild birds. A large brown Elpenor larva was 

 placed in the food- trough of an open fowl -house 

 from which the fowls had been removed. A flock 

 of sparrows and chaffinches (Fringilla Domes tica 

 and Calebs) soon flew down from the neighbouring 

 trees, and alighted near the trough to pick up 

 stray food in their usual manner. One bird soon 

 flew on to the edge of the trough, and was just 

 about to hop into it when it caught sight of the 

 caterpillar, and stood jerking its head from side 

 to side, but did not venture to enter. Another bird 

 soon came, and behaved in a precisely similar 

 manner ; then a third, and a fourth ; others settled 

 on the perch over the trough, and a flock of ten 

 or twelve were finally perched around. They all 

 stretched their heads and looked into the trough, 

 but none flew into it. 



I now made the reverse experiment, by remov- 

 ing the caterpillar and allowing the birds again 

 to assemble, when they hopped briskly into the 

 trough. 



