200 DARWINISM chap. 



assimilate with the bLack stripes of the tiger ; and, in like 

 manner, the spotty shadows of leaves in the forest so 

 harmonise with the spots of ocelots, jaguars, tiger-cats, and 

 spotted deer as to alTord them a very perfect concealment. 



In some cases the concealment is effected by colours and 

 markings which are so striking and peculiar that no one who 

 had not seen the creature in its native haunts would imagine 

 them to be protective. An example of this is afforded by the 

 banded fruit pigeon of Timor, whose pure white head and 

 neck, black wings and back, yellow belly, and deeply-cui'ved 

 black band across the breast, render it a very handsome and 

 conspicuous bird. Yet this is what Mr. H. 0. Forbes says of 

 it : " On the trees the white-headed fruit pigeon (Ptilopus 

 cinctus) sate motionless during the heat of the day in numbers, 

 on Avell-exposed branches ; but it was Avath the utmost difficulty 

 that I or my sharp-eyed native servant could ever detect them, 

 even in trees where we knew they were sitting." ^ The trees 

 referred to are species of Eucalyj^tus which abound in Timor. 

 They have whitish or yellowish bark and very open foliage, 

 and it is the intense sunlight casting black curved shadows of 

 one branch upon another, Avith the white and yellow bark and 

 deep blue sky seen through openings of the foliage, that pro- 

 duces the peculiar combination of colours and shadows to 

 Avhich the colours and markings of this bird have become so 

 closely assimilated. 



Even such brilliant and gorgeously coloured birds as the 

 sun-birds of Africa are, according to an excellent observer, 

 often protectively coloured. Mrs. M. E. Barber remarks 

 that " A casual observer would scarcely imagine that the 

 highly varnished arid magnificently coloured plumage of the 

 various species of Noctarinea could be of service to them, yet 

 this is undoubtedly the case. The most unguarded moments 

 of the lives of these birds are those that are spent amongst 

 the flowers, and it is then that they are less wary than at any 

 other time. The diff'erent species of aloes, which blossom in 

 succession, form the j^rincipal sources of their winter supplies 

 of food ; and a legion of other gay flowering plants in spring 

 and summer, the aloe blossoms especially, are all brilliantly 

 coloured, and they harmonise admirably with the gay plumage 



^ A Naturalise s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 460. 



