1897.] F. Finn — Experiments with various Birds, 661 



Experiments with Starling. 



December 8th.-— The Starling having been put into a cage in which 

 was a specimen of Papilio demoleus, soon apparently ate the insect ; and 

 also I think a Catopsilia and another (brown) non-warningly-coloured 

 butterfly. 



December 9th. — T put in the cage of the Starling, which was, I think, 

 hungry, a specimen each of Junonia, Danais chrysippus, Delias eucharis, 

 and Catopsilia. The bird ate the Junonia and then the Catopsilia, whole. 

 I then put in a Junonia of another species, which was also eaten whole. 

 Very soon after I found the D. eucharis and D. chrysippus also gone. 

 Later on I put in a Junonia and a Huphina phryne, together with 

 another D. chrysippus and D. eucharis. The bird ate first the Junonia, then 

 the Huphina, and then the D. eucharis. I left the D. chrysippus, which 

 had not yet been touched, in the cage, and soon after found it outside. 

 1 put it in again, with a D. genutia and D. limniace, and gave the bird 

 at the same time a tin of bread-and-milk. Very soon I saw it energeti- 

 cally attack the D. limniace and swallow it, though the biggest butter- 

 fly given. Later I found the D. genutia untouched, though the 

 D. chrysippus had long disappeared and the bird ate maggots ; and in 

 the evening, though the bird had eaten up all these and also the artifi- 

 cial food, this D. genutia was still untouched. A young cockroach given 

 in the afternoon had soon disappeared. 



December 10th. — I put in the Starling's cage, where the Danais 

 genutia given yesterday still remained, torn but uneaten, the body, in 

 two pieces, of a large yellow-underwinged moth ; it soon disappeared. 



Later, when there was no food in the cage, I put in one specimen 

 each of Atella, Euthalia, Papilio demoleus, and Euploea. The Euthalia 

 was eaten immediately, but though the bird picked up the P. demoleus 

 and touched the Euploea, it did not seem inclined to eat them or the 

 Atella. Yet it ate green insects (Iassidse) readily when given. I took 

 out the Euploea, P. demoleus, and Atella, leaving in the D. genutia. 

 Later on I put them in again, with a Junonia and a Catopsilia. 



The Catopsilia only disappeared, and I left the rest, putting in 

 another Atella and a Delias eucharis. An hour or two later one Atella 

 and the Junonia lay outside ; none had been eaten. I put back those 

 found outside, and added another D. eucharis. 



After the bird had roosted I examined the cage and found none of 

 these butterflies eaten. 



December 11th. — Although there was no food in the Starling's cage, 



the butterflies left overnight (two each Atella phalantha and Delias 



eucharis, one P. demoleus, Junonia, and Euploea with the old D. genutia) 



were uneaten in the morning, at first. Later, first the P. demoleus dis- 



J. n. 84 



