284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [June, 
natural behavior. It is highly characteristic of many birds to 
thresh their prey about, and this is often continued until the object 
is broken in many pieces, which are separately swallowed. E. B. 
Poulton considered (P. Z. S., 1887, p. 219) that a pupa would have 
been swallowed whole if palatable, but as it was crushed and the 
contents eaten it must have been unpalatable; and Weismann 
(Studies in the Theory of Descent, 1882, Vol. I, p. 341) thinks it readily 
conceivable that a certain caterpillar may not be unpalatable to 
lizards, because they swallow it whole, whilst it is perhaps distasteful 
to birds, because they must hack and tear it in order to swallow it. 
As a matter of fact, it is habitual for woodpeckers and jays to peck 
open pupe and extract the contents, and smaller birds, as the chicka- 
dees and titmice, not only use this method when attacking pups, 
but for large larve also. Many birds hold the food between their 
feet and hammer it vigorously before eating, and others accomplish 
the same end by repeatedly picking it up and throwing it down. 
At least one experimenter, Jenner Weir, recognized such actions as 
natural, for he says, ‘All perfect Lepidoptera apparently require 
preparation before they are swallowed by birds; they are taken 
between the mandibles, shaken and bruised for a minute or two, and 
generally have the wings removed before they are eaten.”® In many 
experiments, however, this same action is reckoned as a sign of 
disgust, if not as an actual rejection. Lizards habitually chew large 
prey before swallowing, snakes chew it or crush it by constriction; 
all of these actions are simply part of the normal preparation of food 
for deglutition, and in no sense of the word evidences of distaste. 
Hesitancy and caution are usually translated as distaste. Does 
a bird of prey dislike the mouse it holds by a talon on its perch for 
hours at a time; does a butcherbird dislike the prey it impales on a 
thorn or wedges in a crotch for future reference? Does a cat play 
with a mouse because she hesitates to swallow so distasteful a 
creature? What animal does not employ dilatory tactics in feeding 
when it is not uncomfortably hungry? This subject naturally leads 
up to that of disregard, which may be looked upon as hesitancy 
prolonged. ; 
Disregard may arise from many conditions, unrelated to the 
palatability of the food, such as varying appeal of the food to the 
captive animal according to its state of activity or health, or degree 
of hunger; or such as the size of the object offered, presence of the 
® Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1869, p. 22. 
