76 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



of the color of the creature to its haunts is worthy 

 of admiration, as tending to its preservation. 

 The colors of insects, and of a multitude of the 

 smaller animals, contribute to their concealment. 

 Caterpillars which feed on leaves are generally 

 either green, or have a large proportion of that 

 hue in the color of their coats. As long as they 

 remain still, how difficult it is to distinguish a 

 grasshopper or young locust from the herbage or 

 leaf on which it rests. The butterflies that flit 

 about among flowers are colored like them. The 

 small birds which frequent hedges have backs of a 

 greenish or brownish green hue, and their bellies 

 are generally whitish, or light colored, so as to 

 harmonize with the sky. ' Thus they become less 

 visible to the hawk or cat that passes above or 

 below them. The wayfarer across the fields 

 almost treads upon tlie skylark before he sees it 

 rise warbling to heaven's gate. The goldfinch or 

 thistlefinch passes much of its time among flow- 

 ers, and is vividly colored accordingly. The 

 partridge can hardly be distinguished from the 

 fallow or stubble upon or among which it crouch- 

 es, and it is considered an accomplishment among 

 sportsmen to have a good eye for finding a hare 

 sitting. In northern countries the winter dress 

 of the hares and ptarmigans is white, to prevent 

 detection among the snows of those inclement 

 regions. 



If we turn to the waters, the same design is 

 evident. Frogs even vary their color according 

 to that of the mud or sand that forms the bottom 

 of the ponds or streams which they frequent 

 nay, the tree-frog (Hyla viridis) takes its specific 

 name from the color, which renders it so difficult 

 to see it among the leaves, where it adheres by 

 the cupping-glass-like processes at the end of its 

 toes. It is the same with fish, especially those 

 which inhabit the fresh waters. Their backs, 

 with the exception of gold and silver fish, and a 

 few others, are comparatively dark ; and some 

 practice is required before they are satisfactorily 

 made out, as they come like shadows and so 

 depart under the eye of the spectator. A little 

 boy once called out to a friend to " come and see, 

 for the bottom of the brook was moving along." 

 The friend came, and saw that a thick shoal of 

 gudgeons, and roach, and dace, was passing. It is 

 difficult to detect the " ravenous luce," as old Izaak 

 calls the pike, with its dark green and mottled 

 back and sides, from the similarly tinted weeds 

 among which the fresh-water shark lies at the 

 watch, as motionless as they. Even when a tear- 

 ing old trout, a six or seven-pounder, sails, in his 

 wantonness, leisurely up stream, with his back-fin 

 partly above the surface, on the look-out for a fly, 

 few, except a well-entered fisherman, can tell 

 what shadowy form it is that ripples the wimpling 

 water. But the bellies of fish are white, or 

 nearly so ; thus imitating in a degree the color 

 of the sky, to deceive the otter, which generally 

 takes its prey from below, swimming under the 

 intended victim. Nor is this design less manifest 

 in the color and appearance of some of the larger 



terrestrial animals ; for the same principle seems 

 to be* kept in view, whether regard be had to the 

 smallest insects or the quadrupedal giants of the 

 land. 



I have often traced (writes an excellent observer) 

 a remarkable resemblance between the animal and 

 the general appearance of the locality in which it 

 is found. This I first remarked at an early period 

 of my life, when entomology occupied a part of my 

 attention. No person following this interesting 

 pursuit can fail to observe the extraordinary like- 

 ness which insects bear to the various abodes in 

 which they are met with. Thus among the long 

 green grass we find a variety of long green insects, 

 whose legs and antennae so resemble the shoots 

 emanating from the stalks of the grass, that it 

 requires a practised eye to distinguisli them. 

 Throughout sandy districts, varieties of insects are 

 met with of a color similar to the sand which they 

 inhabit. Among the green leaves of the various 

 trees of the forest innumerable leaf-colored insects 

 are to be found ; while, closely adhering to the 

 rough, gray bark of these forest-trees, we observe 

 beautifully-colored, gray-looking moths, of various 

 patterns, yet altogether so resembling the bark a.- 

 to be invisible to the passing observer. In likr 

 manner, among quadrupeds, I have traced a con 

 siderable analogy ; for, even in the case of the stu 

 pendous elephant, the ashy color of his hide & 

 corresponds with the general appearance of ths 

 gray thorny jungles which he frequents throughout 

 the day, that a person unaccustomed to hunting 

 elephants, standing on a commanding situation, 

 might look down upon a herd and fail to detect 

 their presence. And further, in the case of the 

 giraffe, which is invariably met with among ven- 

 erable forests, where innumerable blasted and 

 weatherbeaten trunks and stems occur, I have re- 

 peatedly been in doubt as to the presence of a troop 

 of them, until I had recourse to my spy-glass ; 

 and, on referring the case to my savage attendants, 

 I have known even their optics to fail at one time 

 mistaking their dilapidated trunks for camelopards, 

 and again confounding real camelopards with thoso 

 aged veterans of the forest.* 



The Wizard of the North, who had a keen eye 

 for the harmonies of Nature and what poet, who 

 is fond of field-sports, has not 1 frequently mani- 

 fests the results of his observation on animals and 

 their haunts in his immortalities, whether of verse 

 or prose. 



So far was heard the mighty knell 

 The stag sprung up on Cheviot Fell, 

 Spread his broad nostril to the wind, 

 Listed before, aside, behind, 

 Then couched him down beside the hind, 

 And q-iaked among the mountain fern, 

 To hear that sound so dull and stern. 



When a stag lies with his neck stretched out 

 and his horns lying backward in such a lair, or 

 among other low cover, none but a very experi- 

 enced stalker is likely to detect him. 



I remember, one very hard winter, passing more 

 than once, in beating over a fallow field, what I 

 at first took for a clod, but which proved to be a 

 partridge frozen to death. As for the young of 

 many birds who make their nests on the ground, 



* A Hunter's Life in South Africa* By Roualeyn 

 Gordon Gumming, Esq. 



