248 MR. C. F. M. 8WYNNERT0N ON THE 



Exp. 30. — May 29. To " place" Pseudacrcea lucretia var. expansa. 



After a longisli fast, hungiy in manner, the roller crushed and swallowed a 

 Mylothris agathina, but in this case showed afterwards signs of dislike — shakings 

 of head, etc. Evidently she was only just hungry enough to eat it. 



I now gave her two Charaxes hrutus natalensis, after which Belenois mesentina 

 was tasted and rejected, but on being reofFered was swallowed rather under protest, 

 the bird afterwards shaking its head a good deal. She then very readily and with 

 no sign of dislike crushed and ate a Neptis saclava and a wingless Pseudacrcea 

 lucretia expansa (gravid $ of yesterday still alive). 



She now eagerly ate two Charaxes candiope, afterwards tasting and rejecting 

 Neptis saclava, refusing Neptis goochi without tasting and crushing well and 

 rejecting Pseudacrcea lucretia expansa with one wing. Reoffered, it was again 

 tasted and at once rejected. Neptis saclava was then tasted and swallowed after a 

 momentary hesitation. Pseridacrcea lucretia expansa reoffered yet again was refused 

 without tasting, but finally taken, crushed, and, after a moment's hesitation, 

 swallowed. A Neptis goochi was now refused without tasting and a Neptis saclava 

 crushed and rejected. A Phrissurco isokani without smell or wing was then at first 

 refused without tasting, finally tasted slightly and rejected, the bird wiping her 

 bill. 



She now readily ate two Charaxes hrutus natalensis, then tasted and rejected 

 Eurytela hiarhas. 



I then gave her four Charaxes natalensis in succession. She refused the next, 

 then crushed carelessly and dropped an Atella phalantha, and refused witliout 

 tasting Precis cehrene and Pyrameis cardui. However, on my now placing grass- 

 hoppers in the cage she descended and ate four or five very small ones (not equiva- 

 lent to two Charaxes) before returning to her perch satisfied. 



[Summary : — 



(1) As to the Pseicdcccrcea's placing, it was eaten with N. saclava and rejected 

 at the same point as the latter, and when the Neptis was eaten with disinclination 

 it too required a little persuasion of the roller to induce her to eat it. That the 

 hesitation here was slightly more pi'olonged than in the case of the Neptis might 

 have been merely the result of the eating of the latter in between. 



I wrote at the time " Any onlooker must have been convinced that the roller 

 found nothing to choose between the decisive Pseudacrcea and Neptis saclava." 



(2) Grades:— 



1. Small grasshoppers (sp. not stated). 



2. G. hrutus. 



3. N. saclava and P. expansa. 1 N. goochi tried less readily each time 



4. B. mesentina and M. agathina. J than N. saclava.^ 



Ezp. 31. — Later in the day, after some starvation, hungry in manner but less 

 so than the first time. 



I twice ofi'ered a wingless Nychitona medusa and it was each time tasted and at 

 once most emphatically Hung away. Neptis saclava, however, was readily accepted 

 and eaten, 



