346 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



So numerous are the instances where Mr. Thayer has 

 over-refined his argument after the manner of the examples 

 given above, that he has ended by goading his opponents to 

 the opposite extreme. They are, it seems to me, not nearly 

 enough incHned to admit whatever of value there is in the 

 theory. 



Every hunter in a fairly open country knows that a 

 varied costume is better than a uniform costume. Thus 

 the sheep hunter who wears a gray cap, a khaki-coloured 

 shirt, and breeches of "pepper and salt'' stands a better 

 chance of remaining unnoticed than he who dresses entirely 

 in even the celebrated *'olive drab." A wildebeeste, in or 

 out of cover, is more visible than a zebra. The mottled 

 horned toad is less easily seen than the lizard. All this 

 quite irrespective of movement. Nobody will seriously 

 deny this. Furthermore, as a general thing, in thin cover 

 the patterned animal will remain unnoticed longer than the 

 animal in monochrome. But in thick cover, except under 

 exceptional circumstances, a good neutral monochrome or a 

 broken pattern seem to be on equal footing. On the open 

 plain no animal is concealed, unless there be high grass; 

 when, naturally, the environment must be considered as 

 cover. 



Let us elaborate. In the new hunting field we have been 

 describing, the game had not been disturbed by man, either 

 savage or civihzed. This was a most unusual condition ; for 

 even where the white hunter has not penetrated usually the 

 black hunter has been active for untold generations. There- 

 fore here the game may fairly be considered to frequent 

 the type of country it likes best, its ideas unmodified by 



