COLORATION 63 



The best examples of experiments carried on under con- 

 ditions so artificial as to make the experiments not merely 

 useless but misleading, and of conclusions which are of 

 even less value than the experiments, are furnished by Mr. 

 Thayer. Mr. Thayer's experiments have the value that 

 attaches to puzzle-pictures in the Sunday papers. They 

 show that by the exercise of ingenuity it is possible to find 

 for every mammal or bird, of every conceivable type of 

 coloration, some combination of light, background, and sur- 

 roundings in which it will be inconspicuous. Mr. Thayer 

 has recorded the results of his observations in a beautifully 

 printed and illustrated book, containing a great many 

 photographs of live wild birds and mammals taken by other 

 men, some photographs of dead or tame animals or of arti- 

 ficial imitations of wild animals taken by himself, and some 

 pictures painted by himself. The latter are designed to 

 show that peacocks are concealed from their enemies be- 

 cause they are colored like the sky and the foliage, wood- 

 ducks because they are colored like water-lily flowers and 

 leaves, blue jays because they are colored like shadows on 

 snow (most blue jays spend most or all of the year where 

 there is no snow, and against the snow their coloring is 

 revealing hundreds of times for once that it is concealing), 

 and spoonbills and flamingoes because they are colored like 

 clouds and sunsets — it being supposed that sharks and 

 crocodiles, and the minute gasteropods on which the fla- 

 mingoes feed, are misled into believing that the sun is always 

 setting whenever flamingoes are near. It is a little diflicult 

 to develop the theories for which Professor Poulton stands 

 to a higher point than * Professor Poulton has developed 

 them; but Mr. Thayer has accomplished the feat. He 



