A POT-HUNTER'S DEFIANCE 63 



as the dead leaves and twigs, looking straight at 

 him, not a muscle moving. 



This time Shan studied the bird's outline care- 

 fully and marked it against the background, noting 

 well the pattern of bill, back and tail against the 

 leaves. Then he turned his head to face the bird 

 and she dissolved from sight. 



"Protective coloration for sure!" the boy mut- 

 tered under his breath. In an article in the En- 

 cyclopaedia it spoke of protective coloration, which 

 consists mainly of two factors : having the color of 

 the body of a hue harmonizing with the general 

 background and having these colors disposed so 

 that the color is darkest where they receive most 

 light and palest where there is the deepest shadow. 

 A bird which is brown all over, would show up 

 clearly against a brown background, for the 

 shadow on his underside would make him almost 

 black. This is known as the law of counter-shad- 

 ing and is exactly the opposite of the process em- 

 ployed by the artist, when he paints in shadows to 

 make his objects on a flat canvas stand out as if 

 they were solid. The second law, that of oblitera- 

 tive markings, i& designed to make the bird har- 

 monize so well with his surroundings that the sur- 

 face of the body must bear a picture of such back- 



