IX] THE ENEMIES OF BUTTERFLIES 115 



his examination of the stomachs Bryant came to the 

 conclusion that some 30 % of the food of these five 

 species was composed of this butterfly. The stomachs 

 of many other species were examined without ever 

 encountering butterfly remains. Nor did field obser- 

 vations support the view that any species, other than 

 the five specially noted, ever attacked these butterflies. 

 The case is of interest in the present discussion as 

 evidence that the identification of butterfly remains 

 in the stomachs of birds is by no means so difficult as 

 some observers suggest. 



Besides this evidence derived from observations 

 upon birds in the wild state some data have been 

 accumulated from the experimental feeding of birds 

 in captivity. Of such experiments the most extensive 

 are those of Finn^ in South India. He experimented 

 with a number of species of insectivorous birds be- 

 longing to different groups. Of these he found that 

 some, among which may be mentioned the King-crow, 

 Starhng, and Liothrix^, objected to Danaines, Papilio 

 aristolocJiiae and Delias eucharis, a presumably dis- 

 tasteful Pierine with bright red markings on the under 

 surface of the hind wings (PI. II, fig. 1 ). In some cases 

 the bird refused these forms altogether, while in others 

 they were eaten in the absence of more palatable 

 forms. The different species of birds often differed in 



1 Joum. Aaiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 64, 1895, and vol. 66, 1897. 



' Nevertheless a Liothrix is recorded as eating Danais plexippus 

 and a Euploea even though two male specimens of the palatable 

 Elymnias undularia were in the cage. 



8—2 



