732 LT.-COL. N. MANDERS ON THE 



birds. I have the subject always in minQl when I happen to get 

 out, and my friend Mr. Symons, of the Government Training 

 College, is also on the look-out, and if we should notice anything 

 it will be reported to you. 



" Being keen on birds there is very little that escapes my 

 notice when I happen to be out, and I must say the subject on 

 which you write is very exceptional so fai- as my observations go. 

 At Christmas time I motored round the south coast to Galle, 

 Hambantota and from thence to Haputale. The butterflies were 

 there in myriads, nearly all the way — none of us had ever seen 

 anything so remarkable in our lives. There were literally clouds 

 of butterflies — in fact we remarked that we now knew where all 

 the butterflies came from which used to appear here on migration 

 in the N.E. monsoon. But neither Mr. Symons nor I saw a 

 bird attempt to catch a butterfly, and we saw a large variety of 

 birds including Bee-eaters, Swallows, and Swifts." 



An argument of some force against the frequency of butterfly 

 victims may be advanced by the different behaviour of birds in 

 the presence of a flight of locusts and a migratory flight of 

 butterflies. I have been fortunate enough to witness both, and 

 the difference is very striking. In the former, every kite, crow, 

 and insectivorous bird in the district follows the locusts, gorging 

 to repletion ; and it is a veiy remarkable sight the numbers, I 

 might almost say flocks, of birds following the swarm. In a 

 migratory flight of butterflies, on the conti-ary, with the exception 

 of a few Bee-eaters and Drongos, birds are conspicuous by their 

 absence. 



Mr. Oswin Wickwar, F.E.S., sends me the following note : — 

 " When shooting in the Northern Province in May last, I was 

 crossing the dry bed of a river when a Bee-eater [Merops viridis) 

 swooped down and caught a butterfly on the wing within a 

 couple of 5^ards of my face. The instant it snapped it up, the fore 

 and hind wings of the butterfly floated down in front of me, and 

 enabled me to prove its identity, Papilio polytes S . This was 

 about 11 A.M. The following morning about 7 a.m. I had occa- 

 sion to cross the same spot, and saw what was probably the same 

 bird perched on a twig ; I had hardly seen it, when it flew down 

 and entered a hole in the bank, but came out again in a few 

 seconds. This was evidently its nest, and I was anxious to look 

 for remains of insects, nor was I disappointed. By introducing a 

 twig, the hole seemed to be about two feet deep and to travel 

 in a horizontal direction, so a start was made to cut away the 

 bank, and before going a foot three insects were unearthed, — a 

 humming-bird moth [Macroglossa sp.?) which was still alive, a 

 ' skipper ' (Suashis gremius) also alive, and a small green beetle 

 with white spots on the elytra. All these were secured and taken 

 away. The hole now took a turn and went a downwai'd course 

 for about two feet, which meant cutting away a huge piece of the 

 bank to get at the nest, so I had to leave it," 



