82 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



ent conditions; the utmost it can have done is to set wide 

 limits, between which any color or combination of colors 

 may be developed. Under bright sunlight in such bush 

 and jungle as that in which gerenuk and lesser koodoo are 

 found, separately or together, the play of light and shadow 

 is such, the checkered pattern of sunshine through leaves 

 on either solid or striped or spotted bodies is such, the bright 

 colors and deep shades of the accidented landscapes are 

 such, the vistas are so numerous, so superimposed on one 

 another, and of such varied length and breadth, and the 

 amount of interposed and surrounding and backing twiggery 

 and foliage is so great, that any motionless body of any 

 fairly neutral tint, whether solid or varied, is so difficult to 

 make out that the exact shade and the exact character of 

 the markings are of no consequence whatever. Gerenuk 

 or lesser koodoo, duiker or bushbuck, leopard or lioness — 

 all dwelling in the same surroundings, are equally well con- 

 cealed, whether their coats are striped or spotted or uniform. 



It is curious to see how even first-class hunters, if unac- 

 customed to analyze their observations, have been com- 

 pletely misled by failing to understand this simple fact; 

 namely, that normally no animal is conspicuous in an or- 

 dinary landscape, for such a landscape is broken and acci- 

 dented, is flooded with light and varied with shadows, con- 

 tains innumerable vistas and obstructions, and is filled 

 with a myriad color tones. Naturally in such surround- 

 ings any animal of any color is difficult to make out; 

 and when he has recognized this fact, the average ob- 

 server tends to believe that it is the animal's coloration, 

 and not the landscape, that is responsible. 



One of the queerest claims of the concealing-coloration 



