Apeil 1, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



443 



what Las been published goes far in the 

 direction of proving that birds must still be 

 reckoned among the principal enemies of 

 butterflies. Belt's well-known note on the 

 pair of Puff-birds that he watched for half- 

 an-hour bringing various butterflies to feed 

 their young is supported by E. Poeppig's 

 observation * that in the forest it is easy to 

 discover where a Galbula's favorite perch 

 has been chosen, as the wings of lai-ge but- 

 terflies, whose bodies only have been eaten, 

 strew the ground for several paces round 

 about. Von Wied found a large ' Tag- 

 schmetterliug ' in the stomach of a Biicco, 

 and E. Hartert butterflies in that of Merops 

 pusillus; while E. L. Arnold saw Terias 

 heeabe and Papilio painmon caught by birds 

 in India. t Hahnel published in Iris (1890) 

 the observation that in South America birds 

 hunted Pierinse more than any other group 

 of butterflies, and often snapped up speci- 

 mens close to him. Haase in Siam saw 

 some Catopsilige (Pierinse) and Hesperiidse 

 captured and eaten by sparrows. I have 

 recorded Mrs. Barber's remarks that among 

 the insects caught and brought to their 

 nestlings by various Sun-birds at the Cape 

 she often noticed Pyravieis cardui, and also 

 Mr. Mansel Weale's note that Tehitrea cris- 

 tata captures the male Papilio cena. Mr. T, 

 Ayres, a very trustworthy ornithological 

 observer, has remarked (in his notes in 

 The Ibis on the habits of South African 

 birds) that the King-hunter, Ispidina natal- 

 ensis, feeds almost entirely on butterflies. 

 Col. Swinhoe informs me that in India he 

 has on several occasions seen Merops viridis 

 catch and eat butterflies, and that he has 

 a.lso witnessed many cases of other birds 

 pursuing them ; while the common Corvus 

 splendens was found greedily to devour any 

 edible butterflies thrown to it. This evi- 

 dence is supported by that kindly furnished 

 to me by Mr. F. Lewis, of the Cejdon Forest 



* Cited by Haase, 1. c, II., p. 104. 



t These tbree cases also cited by Haase, 1. c. 



Service, who has for many years been famil- 

 iar with the ways of birds in the jungle, 

 vid.: that he has seen Merops viridis and M. 

 pliilippinus occasionally take small white 

 and yellow butterflies ( Terias, spp. ) , and 

 the latter bee-eater and M. sioinhoii fre- 

 quently capture Catopsilise, especially when 

 these butterflies are traveling in thousands 

 along the river valleys. Mr. Lewis also 

 gives Buchanga leucopygialis as a very active 

 hunter of butterflies on the wing. In Eng- 

 land I have noticed a swallow hunting one 

 of the common ' Whites ' (apparently Pieris 

 brassiece), and also three sparrows for some 

 time chase and eventually capture a female 

 Epinephilejanira; while at the Cape I have 

 seen Fiscus collaris, the common shrike of the 

 colony, seize in succession several newly- 

 emerged Papilio lyceus on the wing. 



In Mr. Skertchley's paper, ' On Butter- 

 flies' Enemies,'* he gives a list (p. 485) of 

 no fewer than twenty-three species of but- 

 terflies belonging to the different subfami- 

 lies, which he observed in Borneo with both 

 hind wings mutilated in the same manner 

 as if a piece had been bitten out while the 

 insect was at rest ; but this description of 

 mutilation he attributes, not to the assaults 

 of birds, but to those of lizards and perhaps 

 small mammals. I see nothing, however, 

 to lead us to conclude that birds do not at- 

 tack butterflies when at rest, especially 

 when settled on flowers, foliage, etc., with 

 closed and erect or pendant wings ; it is 

 highly probable, indeed, that they would 

 mark down a settling butterfly and make 

 direct for it. It seems to me likely that 

 most of the destruction of butterflies by 

 bii-ds is not eflected by the dif&cult chase 

 of these wavering and erratic or often very 

 rapid flyers in the open, but is carried on 

 mainly against the slow-flying bulkier 

 females while engaged in depositing their 

 ova, usually among the foliage of trees, un- 



*Anii. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (6)111., pp. 477-485 

 (1889). 



