JOURNAL 



OP THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 



Vol. LXVI. Part II.— NATURAL SCIENCE. 

 No. IV.— 1897. 



Contributions to the Theory of Warning Colours and Mimicry. No. IV. 

 Experiments with various Birds. Summary and conclusions. — By 

 F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S., Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Museum. 



[Received May 27th ; Eead June 2nd, 1897]. 



Introduction. 



In accordance with the intention implied in previous ^papers of 

 this series, (J. A. S. B. LXIV, Pt. II, 1895 p. 344 ; LXV, Pt. II, 1896, 

 p. 42; LXVI, Pt. II, 1897, p. 528). I give in this, the final paper 

 thereof, an account of my experiments with birds other than the 

 Babblers (Crateropus canorus) to which my first paper was devoted, 

 together with a general summary and conclusions. 



Some of the experiments herein detailed had already been made 

 when my paper on the Babblers was published, and I have made many 

 others since. 



Most of these have been made with birds of the Passerine order, 

 the largest and most important of all the groups of birds commonly 

 regarded as of ordinal value. And among these I have paid particular 

 attention to the birds of the Babbler group * generally, that being cue 



* Unfortunately great difference of opinion prevails among ornithologists as 

 to the extent and limits of this group of birds, the " family " Crateropodidx or 

 Timeliidx of authors. 



For the purposes of this enquiry I restrict the term " Babbler " to species be, 

 longing to Mr. Oates' (Fauna of British India, Birds, Vol. I), " sub-families " 

 Crateropodinx, Timeliinse, Sibiinx, and Liotrichinx. I have experimented with 

 none of the Brachypteryginx ; and though inclined with Mr. Oates to rank the 



J. ii. 78 



