Abstract
DR. W. E. COLLINGE is apparently under a misapprehension as to the degree to which it is claimed that birds eat butterflies. I do not think that it is ever claimed that these insects form the principal food of any bird ; only that they are eaten to an extent sufficient to have a selective effect, and I believe that work by Prof. R. A. Fisher has demonstrated mathematically that this extent need be very much less than was previously supposed.
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References
NATURE, 135, 194 (Feb. 2, 1935).
Pitman, C. R. L., J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 33, 204 (1948).
Observation 22 of the paper under discussion.
Chapin, J. P., Natural History, 22, 66 (1922).
Carpenter, G. D. H., “Mimicry”, p. 69. (Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1933).
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CARPENTER, G. Wild Birds and Butterflies. Nature 140, 974–975 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/140974b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/140974b0
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