88 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



family of finished carnivores, is rich in examples of this. 

 The mink is not countershaded, the weasel has white under- 

 parts, the black-footed ferret, thanks to its dark legs, seems 

 inversely countershaded; but the different color patterns 

 seem in no way to affect their success in life. The mink is 

 under natural conditions abundant and wide-spread ; it for- 

 ages on land as successfully as the weasel. Natural selec- 

 tion has never produced countershading in its coat. The 

 wolverene is inversely countershaded. The fisher and sable 

 are not countershaded. All these wide-spread, and under 

 natural conditions abundant, carnivores are not counter- 

 shaded and are not concealingly colored ; ferocity, hardihood, 

 keen senses, and (except in the wolverene) agility and power 

 to take advantage of cover are all so developed that the 

 quality of the coloration is evidently negligible as affecting 

 either their prey or the not very numerous animals that 

 prey on them. 



In the deer family there are many of the, under natural 

 conditions, wide-spread and abundant forms, such as the 

 moose, wapiti, and sambur, which are not countershaded 

 or are inversely countershaded; the moose is so black that 

 it is always conspicuous; the others are no more conspicu- 

 ous, except for their size, than their countershaded or 

 spotted neighbors. The wapiti will crouch and hide, as 

 we have personally seen, precisely like black-tail and 

 white-tail deer or like rabbits. The wapiti calf is slightly 

 countershaded and spotted. It therefore appears that the 

 non-countershaded, solid-colored wapiti has been evolved 

 from a spotted, countershaded form; and yet the wapiti 

 still seeks safety in concealment. This means either 

 that "natural selection" has eliminated the spots and 



