THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 341 



such markings might well be that they are warnings of 

 danger to others. Indeed they are most prominently dis- 

 played only when the beast is in rapid motion. 



Concerning the top markings of the skunk: as far as my 

 experience goes the skunk is in no way desirous, either by 

 day or night, of escaping observation. He and the solemn 

 porcupine have other reliable means of defence. 



3. The theory that in order adequately to test out these 

 hypotheses we should adopt the viewpoint of the preying 

 animal is an interesting one. Before we came to a conclu- 

 sion satisfactory to ourselves we gave more attention to this 

 than to all the other branches put together. Before I left 

 on this last trip Mr.Thayer very kindly sent me a copy of a 

 pamphlet wherein, by text and diagram, this was all yery 

 carefully worked out. He showed that in the majority of 

 cases a man on all-fours or prone would see the animal 

 against the skyline, while a man erect would see it against 

 a solid background. He maintained that the former was 

 the viewpoint of the beast's *^ natural enemies," and that 

 from that viewpoint the "concealing coloration" had fuller 

 effect. 



Now, in the first place, I do not quite see the justice of ex- 

 cluding mankind from the catalogue of a beast's "natural 

 enemies." Man has probably lived always contempo- 

 raneously with the present species of game; he has always 

 caught them for food; his success has probably been as 

 great as that of his rivals the Hons, leopards, etc., that are 

 generally considered as the'only accepted "natural enemies." 

 That his hunting has modified the habits of some no man 

 can doubt; that his continued and persistent pursuit from 



