234 INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. 



mere instinct, and I think a fair illustration of what I at first advanced. 



All animals and birds of game so nearly resemble the herbage amongst 

 which they are found, that this is undoubtedly a natural provision for their 

 protection; and this is carried out likewise in the gorgeously-plumed daisies 

 of tropical countries, where the ordinary floral productions of the field and 

 garden act very much to them, as the dead fern-brake or brown heather 

 does to our Hare or Partridge. It is notorious that the Mango-Pigeon of 

 Hindoostan so nearly resembles the leaves of the Mango-Tree, as to be 

 quite undistinguishable as long as he is still; and in our own country the Wry- 

 nock is to a casual observer but as a portion of the bark of the moss-grown 

 tree upon which he rests. 



I knew a gentleman who had so tutored his Dog, that in walking through 

 his woods where snares were set for Rabbits, it would always avoid them, and 

 even stop suddenly and run on one side where a trap was concealed in the 

 earth, which no human eye could detect, and this I believe is not uncommon. 

 With Insects I have observed the same thing, more especially with Spiders; 

 some of these creatures have a retreat, as it were, at the upper corner of 

 their web, from which they await the entanglement of a victim; but others, 

 and those of the larger kinds, hang motionless and extended in the centre, 

 but approach them, and they immediately retreat and conceal themselves. 

 There is one large brown kind especially, common in heathy districts, which 

 retreats on the least alarm, and crouches beside a dried pod of Gorse seed, 

 to which he bears so remarkable a resemblance as to be undetectable, if I 

 may coin a word, from it. Again, there is a pink kind which exactly re- 

 sembles a single flower of Biennial Clover. He ensconces himself in a full- 

 blown head of this plant, and woe betide the unlucky Butterfly who 

 unconsciously endeavours to sip nectar there! There are likewise bright green 

 Spiders for cabbages, and so on; and hence in this wonderful system of Nature 

 we see so much to admire and reverence, that we are lost in wonder and 

 adoration. 



Rise from this to the highest objects of creation, and see the Cafire chief 

 in his red wool blanket lying beside the sand hillocks, and a regiment might 

 be in the midst of thousands and take them either for sheep or lumps of 

 earth; his skin is also as nearly as possible of the same hue. Of the wiles 

 of the American savage we have often read; and thus we trace from 

 majestic and reason- endowed man the chain which connects reason and brute 

 cunning, even to the very Insects which we trample unknowingly beneath 

 our feet. 



Liacolns-Inn- Fields, September, 1853. 



