172 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



shaded, were the hardest of all animals to see, even harder 

 than the only less invisible dun horses; at the time I attrib- 

 uted their greater invisibility purely to their inferior size, 

 my attention not having been drawn to the question of 

 countershading, which may have had some effect. 



The lion's general coloration, then, is concealing, as con- 

 cealing as the general body color of an eland, oryx, roan an- 

 telope, or buck of the big gazelle. The body coats of all 

 these animals have a concealing value in their ordinary sur- 

 roundings; and the habitual attitudes of the antelopes are 

 such that the countershading would have an effect were it 

 not that they never seek to conceal themselves and never 

 profit by concealment. But unlike the big grass-eaters of 

 the open plains, which always stand upright, the lion in- 

 variably squats and crouches when seeking to elude obser- 

 vation, so that in its case the effect of the countershading 

 disappears at all critical moments, and is doubtless entirely 

 negligible as an element in the beast's concealment. But 

 this is not all. Even with a lioness the black-tipped ears 

 are revealing, and so is the seemingly involuntary waving 

 of the black-tipped tail. The male lion has some strongly 

 revealing bodily attributes. His mane is conspicuous, and 

 when it is black it has a highly revealing quality. Yet the 

 black-maned lions are generally beasts in high condition; 

 apparently neither the presence of this highly revealing 

 black mane in some males, nor the absence of all mane in the 

 females, has any effect one way or the other in helping or 

 hampering the animal against its prey. It is therefore evi- 

 dent, neither the revealing quality of the black mane nor the 

 concealing quality caused by its absence has any effect as a 

 survival factor. The slightest reflection will convince every 



