514 APPENDIX E 



animals, while health}^ and unhurt, seeks to escape observation by 

 hiding. 



This is the direct reverse of what occurs with many bush ante- 

 lopes. Undoubtedly many of the latter do seek to escape observa- 

 tion. 1 have seen waterbucks stand perfectly still, and then steal 

 cautiously off through the brush ; and I have seen duiker and 

 steinbuck lie down and stretch their heads out flat on the ground 

 when they noticed a horseman approaching from some distance. 

 Yet even in these cases it is very hard to say whether their 

 coloration is really protective. The steinbuck, a very common 

 little antelope, is of a foxy red, which is decidedly conspicuous. 

 The duiker lives in the same localities, and seems to me to be 

 more protectivel}- coloured — at any rate, if the coloration is 

 protective for one it certainly is not for the other. The bushbuck 

 is a boldly- coloured beast, and I do not believe for a moment that 

 it ever owes its safety to protective coloration. The reedbuck, 

 which in manners corresponds to our white-tailed deer, may very 

 possibly at times be helped by its coloration, although my own 

 belief is that all these bush creatures owe their jiower of conceal- 

 ment primarily to their caution, noiselessness, and power to remain 

 motionless, rather than to any pattern of coloration. But all of 

 these animals undoubtedly spend nmch of their time in trying to 

 elude observation. 



On the open plains, however, nothing of the kind happens. 

 The little tommy gazelle, for instance, never strives to escape 

 observation. It has a habit of constantly jerking its tail in a way 

 which immediately attracts notice, even if it is not moving other- 

 wise. When it lies down, its obliterative shading entirely dis- 

 appears, because it has a very vivid black line along its side, and 

 when recumbent — or indeed, for the matter of that, when standing 

 up — this black line at once catches the eye. However, when stand- 

 ing, it can be seen at once anyhow. The bigger Grant's gazelle is, as 

 far as the adult male is concerned, a little better off than the 

 tommy, because the bucks have not got the conspicuous black 

 lateral stripe ; but this is possessed by both the young and the 

 does — who stand in much more need of concealing coloration. 

 But as I have already so often said, neither concealment nor 

 concealing coloration plays any part whatever in protecting these 

 animals from their foes. There is never any difficulty in seeing 

 them ; the difficulty is to prevent their seeing the hunter. 



Mr. Thayer's thesis is " that all patterns and colours whatsoever 

 of all animals that ever prey or are preyed on are under certain 

 normal circumstances obliterative.'''' Either this sentence is entirely 

 incorrect or else it means nothing ; either no possible scheme of 

 coloration can be imagined which is not protective (in which case, 

 of course, the whole theory becomes meaningless), or else the state- 



