ANIMAL LIFE IN THE GREAT DESERT. 251 



not afford. Life in the desert is, therefore, one of the factors by 

 which the sand-fowl is forbidden the polygamy affected by other 

 members of the gallinaceous family. Scarcity of food also affects 

 the life of these birds by adding to their hours of labor ; for they 

 require more time to find the quantity of food they need than 

 other birds whose tables are more richly furnished, and may often 

 be seen, when the moon is shining, active during a part of the 

 night. 



Their plumage is strikingly like the soiL of their home, though 

 I doubt if they are aware of the value of the feature, as Brehm 

 believes. The squatting attitude and the stillness they assume 

 when they believe themselves in danger are probably only in- 

 stinctive. Bitterns in like manner resemble in plumage, and in 

 the position they assume when they perceive anything suspicious, 

 the old reeds and bushes on the shore. I have observed the same 

 changes in captive birds when suddenly frightened, and when it 

 can not be of any use to them. It is an involuntary reflex action, 

 like the bristling of the hair and the exposure of the teeth in 

 angry dogs. 



With extraordinarily acute sight and hearing joined to a great 

 power of flight, the sand-fowl is little exposed to danger, except 

 when a desert fox or fennec succeeds in stealing upon a covey at 

 their noon-rest, or at night, and snapping up one or two of the 

 number. 



This animal, which is a little larger than a cat, is a true child 

 of the desert, and is represented by local varieties through all 

 Africa. Its color is the characteristic yellow of the desert ; it has 

 a fine growth of hair on the paws, which prevents its sinking in 

 the fine sand and muffles the sound of its footsteps. The most 

 striking of the features that have adapted it to its abiding-place 

 and its way of life is in a certain sense the complement of its soft 

 foot a very sharp organ of hearing, the sound-catching outer 

 part of which is unusually large. Its eye is not adequate to per- 

 ceive its favorite prey, so well protected by its color ; and there is 

 a limit to the development of the organ of sight in an animal 

 which, while it does not shun the day, is eminently nocturnal ; 

 and, as is often the case, another sense, that of smell, comes in, 

 besides the hearing, to take the place of sight. Hearing is the 

 night-sense ; and the fennec can hear the slightest movement of 

 the sleepy khata (Pterocles alchata) at distances almost incredible 

 to men, and slip upon its prey with noiseless steps. Then a leap, 

 and one of the little sleepers, before it is aware of what has 

 taken place, has breathed out its arduous but not unpoetic life ; 

 while its companions rush away affrighted, with loud cries of 

 "khadda, khadda ! " Translated for the Popular Science Monthly 

 from Daheim. 



