52 MIMICRY, AND OTHER PROTECTIVE 



that will assimilate with bark and lichen, and thus 

 protect them during the day, and at the same time 

 be inconspicuous in the dusk. 



It is only in the tropics, among forests which never 

 lose their foliage, that we find whole groups of birds 

 whose chief colour is green. The parrots are the most 

 striking example, but we have also a group of green 

 pigeons in the East ; and the barbets, leaf-thrushes, 

 bee-eaters, white-eyes, turacos, and several smaller 

 groups, have so much green in their plumage as to 

 tend greatly to conceal them among the foliage. 



Special Modifications of Colour. 



The conformity of tint which has been so far shown 

 to exist between animals and their habitations is of 

 a somewhat general character; we will now consider 

 the cases of more special adaptation. If the lion is 

 enabled by his sandy colour readily to conceal him- 

 self by merely crouching down upon the desert, how, 

 it may be asked, do the elegant markings of the 

 tiger, the jaguar, and the other large cats agree 

 with this theory ? We reply that these are generally 

 cases of more or less special adaptation. The tiger 

 is a jungle animal, and hides himself among tufts 

 of grass or of bamboos, and in these positions the 

 vertical stripes with which his body is adorned must 

 so assimilate with the vertical stems of the bamboo, 

 as to assist greatly in concealing him from his ap- 

 proaching prey. How remarkable it is that besides 

 the lion and tiger, almost all the other large cats 



