Woods: A Test in the Theory of Protective Coloration 285 
PIPING PLOVER ON SAND AND ROCKS 
Piping Plover are well concealed by their white and pale grey coloration. The eggs resemble stones 
and are hard to recognize. 
resembles the shadow on the adjoining rock. 
Natural History.) (Fig. 29.) 
ton Society of Natural History, as a 
confirmatory test—one that should be 
presumably impartial, since no re- 
arrangements were made. The birds 
were taken just as they were placed in 
the cabinets, except that the frames as 
a whole were tipped at an angle, in 
order to facilitate the photographic 
work. All of these except the Phoebe 
are also represented in Abbott Thayer's 
book. 
The dark band on the neck of the bird in the centre of the picture 
(From an exhibition case in the Boston Society of 
One of the birds, a whippoorwill, is 
artificially outlined against the white 
sheet used as a background. The head 
of a plover is easily detected for the 
same reason, but whenever the birds 
appear against their natural back- 
grounds their concealment is excellent 
and the test indicates that the Thayers 
did not strain a point by arranging their 
birds in especially favorable attitudes. 
