852 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE 



keen, and ultimately allowed a female Black Tanager to rob liim 

 of it. The Tanager behaved in just the same way, pecking and 

 pulling it about and breaking it to pieces, but gradually losing 

 her interest. At last she picked up a piece of the thorax and 

 flew to a bush with it, leaving the remainder on the ground. I 

 could not see what became of the piece she Hew away with, but 

 she emerged from the bush without it, and wiped her beak on 

 a perch. She made no attempt to go back to the bits on the 

 ground. A Sibia tried these, but after a peclc or two left them, 

 and no other insectivorous bird in that compartment took the 

 least notice of them. So I picked up the abdomen and gave it to 

 the Harmonious Shrike-Thrush which had just finished oflf the 

 example of B. hortorum, mentioned below, and he ultimately ate 

 it after a great deal of pecking and pulling about. 



Humble Bee [Bombus hortorum). 



May 31, 1909. One living example fell to the ground of the 

 aviary when first liberated. Two Fantailed Flycatchers flew 

 down to it at once, but although interested would not touch it ; 

 while they were hesitating the bee took wing and escaped, none 

 of the birds in the aviary making any attempt at pursuit. 



One dead specimen ofi'ered to a Shama. She allowed me to 

 hold it close to her beak, but would not touch it. None of the 

 other birds in the aviary would notice it when thrown to the 

 ground, though on a previous occasion they had shown great 

 eagerness in seizing dead butterflies. I then gave it through the 

 bars to the Harmonious Shrike-Thrush in the next compartment. 

 After pecking and pulling it about for six or seven minutes, he 

 ultimately ate it. 



July 31, 1909. One sniffed at but rejected by two Meerkats ; 

 taken by a third and eaten. 



One pecked and flicked away by Black-headed Sibia, by Shama 

 and also by Sun-Bittern, each making two or three attempts. 

 Then carried ofl' by female Black Tanager, but diopped to the 

 floor, where a North American Cat-bird tried it once or twice, but 

 gave it up. (The remains were now too mangled to be useful for 

 further experiment.) 



I could not induce the Fantailed Flycatcher to take any notice 

 of this bee. 



Conclusion. These experiments indicate that the Hum ble Bees 

 used for the tests were much more palatable to the mammals than 

 to the birds. With the exception of the one example of B. Icqn- 

 darius which was smelt and left untouched by two Meerkats, all 

 the bees offered to the Monkeys and Meerkats were eaten without 

 any kind of dislike of the flavour being evinced. The Meerkat 

 that rubbed the B. lapidarius in the sawdust did so, I suspect, to 

 remove some substance offensive to his sense of smell. On the 

 other hand, of the birds to which the bees were offered only three 



