204 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



clothed in plumage so exactly resembling in 

 tint the ground upon which they live, that their 

 discovery is next to impossible. We may liter- 

 ally walk up to these birds crouching upon the 

 bare ground, and not one shall we see until it 

 rises absolutely from under our feet. The 

 Larks, the Buntings, the Finches, the Chats, 

 the Bustards, the Coursers, and the Sand- 

 Grouse are all clad in khaki hues. Our 

 soldiers have but followed the birds in render- 

 ing themselves inconspicuous on the open veldt 

 or the stony hillsides ; and one would have 

 thought that they had profited earlier by the 

 example set them by dame Nature. We find 

 the same great law prevailing upon the sandy 

 coasts and mud flats where Plover and Sand- 

 piper are decked in tints that harmonise closely 

 with the colours around them. These protective 

 hues of course are chiefly confined to the upper 

 parts of the body. Nearly all these latter birds 

 are white below — the most conspicuous hue in 

 nature — and we also find that many desert 

 species carry all their showy colours on the 

 under surface of the body. These protective 

 colours are the common heritage of all species 

 dwelling in such regions, peculiar to no special 

 group, although it is a significant fact that in 



