F. C. Selous Quoted 



African War that on overcast or moonless nights 

 the nearly black army great-coat made a picquet 

 sentry invisible at a distance of a few feet. In 

 strong moonlight this garb could be seen at a 

 great distance, whereas a khaki pea jacket, use- 

 less on a dark night, answered the requirements 

 of invisibility very well." It is thus evident 

 that the dark colour of the buffalo and sable 

 antelope cannot be protective on both dark and 

 moonlight nights. 



The theory of protective colouration is based 

 on the tacit assumption that beasts of prey rely 

 on eyesight for finding their quarry. Raptorial 

 birds certainly do use their eyes as the means of 

 discovering their victims ; but the great majority 

 of predaceous mammals trust almost entirely to 

 their power of smell as a means for tracking 

 down their prey. 



" Nothing," writes F. C. Selous, on page 14 of 

 African Nature Notes and Reminiscences, " is 

 more certain than that all carnivorous animals 

 hunt almost entirely by scent until they have 

 closely approached their quarry, and usually 

 by night, when all the animals on which they 

 prey must look very much alike as far as colour 

 is concerned." 



The herbivora the quarry for the beast of 

 prey too, have a keen sense of smell, so that 

 they trust their noses rather than their eyes for 

 safety. 



199 



