1912.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 321 
one of six wood lice (Oniscus asellus) was accepted, and from five to. 
seven green cherries were refused. Both of these items are eaten by 
adult starlings, thus rounding out to a total the contradictory 
evidence as to choice of the four items by the same bird under natural 
and under artificial conditions. 
In 1889 and 1890, Mr. A. °G. Butler, whose experiments with 
lizards are included in-the tables of Poulton, previously discussed, 
published three articles dealing with the food preferences of captive 
birds. These included both British and tropical birds, which were 
kept in large aviaries. The first of Mr. Butler’s trio of papers 
treats only the general results of six years’ experimenting. He says: 
““My experience .... has been that no insect in any stage was 
ever refused by all the birds; what one bird refused another would 
eat” (p. 171). In the course of this paper, Mr. Butler casually 
remarked that for two years he had sent data on the experiments to. 
Mr. Poulton, “not even retaining a copy of my notes, but so far 
nothing seems to have come of it; I presume, therefore, that my facts 
have rather tended to mystify than clear the matter up” (p. 171). 
Poulton seems to have taken deep umbrage at Butler’s remarks, 
as he returned the notes and made a hot reply on pp. 358-360 of the 
same volume. Butler later published his notes in full, and says: 
‘Few things ever astonished me more than the hostile attitude which 
Mr. Poulton assumed with regard to that innocent paper, or the 
cruel misconstruction which he put upon the most harmless remarks. 
made therein; that my comment touching the repeated reproduction 
of a few comparatively unimportant observations of my own should 
have been dislocated into a claim to the origination of Wallace’s 
theory is too absurd to be considered seriously. .... I still 
insist that, so long as a few desultory observations are incessantly 
forced into a front place, it is an evidence of how little has hitherto. 
been done upon which to establish the truth of a theory; many more 
observers are wanted, and all their observations must be impartially 
treated if we are to arrive at exact scientific truth. I was not aware 
that Mr. Poulton had made a selection of ‘the most interesting 
results’ of my recent experiments for publication in the Report of 
the British Association, or I should not have said ‘so far nothing 
seems to have come of it’; nevertheless, as it is impossible for any 
% “A few remarks respecting Insects supposed to be distasteful to Birds," Annals 
and Mag. of Nat. Hist., Sixth Ser., Vol. IV, 1889, pp. 171-173. 
s7 “Notes made during the summer of 1887 on the effect of offering various 
Insects, Larve, and Pupe to Birds,” l.c., pp. 463-473. 
