Abstract
ON July 22, 1901, a dull, sunless day, I pointed out to Prof. Gotch a fine fresh male specimen of the “Holly Blue” (Lycaena argiolus) at rest on the leaf of a shrub behind the Oxford University Museum. Touching it with my finger, the butterfly rose and fluttered feebly along the curved walk in the Parks. At that moment a swallow (or a martin) came down the walk from the opposite direction at full speed. It must have seen the butterfly fluttering towards it from a considerable distance; for with the most perfect ease and control it diverted its course and took the insect in its sweep. I felt, as I saw it, that only by good fortune was it possible thus to obtain the most direct evidence of events which are probably continually occurring.
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POULTON, E. Birds Attacking Butterflies. Nature 65, 343–344 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065343e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065343e0
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