EXPLANATION OF FORM AND COLOURING. 231 



Exp. 3. — Feb. 27. Bird very restless to-day, off his feed, and spending all his 

 time in trying to get out. On my offering him by forceps larval migratory locusts 

 and the larvae of, probably, Rhabdotis aulica, he often simply crushed them slightly 

 and tossed them away, treating similarly wingless Atella phalantha, Charaxes 

 zooUna, and Charaxes hrutus natalensis. Later I gave him a wingless Papilio 

 lymus. He crushed and dropped it the first time, but again crushed it on being 

 reoffered, and this time swallowed it. A second, however, after being for some 

 time refused without tasting, was crushed and tossed away, then on being reoffered 

 crushed and swallowed it. Two Precis natalensis 0, both without wings, were 

 crushed and swallo/ved without hesitation. 



[Any experiment on a bird in this mood was likely to be simply wasted, but the 

 roller's apparent preference (deducible, perhaps, from the difference in manner) for 

 P. natalensis as against P. lyams may possibly be worth noting for comparison 

 with future and surer results.] 



Exp. 4. — Feb. 28. Plenty of food in the cage, but the bird was still rather 

 chafing at confinement and it was not easy to secure his attention continuously. 

 Thus an average interval of three or four minutes elapsed between his accept- 

 ances down to the Precis ceryne, inclusive. The last three trials were in quick 

 succession. 



The abdomen of a $ Hypolimnas misippus, rejected by Lanius collaris, was well 

 crushed and swallowed without hesitation, as were also a Precis artaxia, six Pi^ecis 

 natalensis 0, and two Precis ceryne. The bird now crushed slightly in the point 

 of his bill and tossed away an Atella phalantha, crushed and readily ate a Precis 

 natalensis 0, and once more rejected the Atella phalantha. All the butterflies in 

 this experiment were offered without wings. 



\_Precis natalensis was aj)parently very distinctly preferred to Atella phalantha, 

 but the mood of the bird enjoins caution in drawing any conclusions from this 

 experiment.] 



Exp. 5. — Mar. 3. The roller, placid now and eating well, readily accepted and 

 ate three Papilio lyceus, refused a fourth, then after an interval ate four more. 



[An instance probably of the effect of subsidence resulting from digestion, the 

 bird being thus enabled to return to an insect that shortly before had become 

 unacceptable : cf. other experiments, passim. 



Seeing that only one species of insect was offered and that no good indication 

 is given of the state of the bird's appetite, nothing can be deduced from this 

 experiment of the pleasantness or otherwise of P. lyceus.^ 



Conclusions from Experiments on Coracias garrulus, A : — The conclusions have 

 been stated at the end of each experiment, and strike me as neither sufficiently 

 numerous nor sufficiently secure to be worth summarizing here. No attempt 

 seems to have been made at any time to ascertain the exact state of the bird's 

 appetite, and on two days he was experimented on when, owing to his unsuitable 

 mood, he should have been left alone. It must be remembered, however, that 

 these experiments were intended not as preference experiments but to accustom 



