Abstract
There has recently been renewed interest in the incidence of beak marks on the wings of butterflies as an indicator of the intensity of bird predation. The purpose of this note is to point out that the interpretation of differences in numbers of beak marks in two species (or two morphs of the same species) is not always simple. Some of the conclusions drawn from recent studies demonstrate an awareness of the problems involved, but others need to be assessed more critically. Consider two species of butterflies, A and B. Samples of both species are collected and examined for beak marks and it is found that A has a higher frequency of beak marks than B. The following explanations are possible:
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