356 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



to me probable that, as Nature likes zebras all different, 

 she may like variety in other ways. 



We may then name as the reasons for varied colouring, 

 (i) Nature's love for variety; (2) concealing coloration; 

 (3) facilitating recognition between members of the same 

 species; (4) sex attraction; (5) revealing for the purpose of 

 warning. These are by no means named in the order of 

 their relative importance. 



At first glance there seems to be a contradiction between 

 some of these functions. For example, number three, four, 

 and five are advertising, revealing; while number two is 

 quite the reverse. This has been recognized by both sides 

 of the controversy. "How can a thing be both concealing 

 and advertising?" ask the opponents triumphantly. And 

 the proponents, instead of accepting the indubitable fact 

 and trying to find it reasonable, make the mistake of bol- 

 stering their argument by super-refinements. 



As a matter of fact there is only an apparent contradic- 

 tion. Those who claim that a zebra, or a topi, or our 

 common deer or any other of the larger animals are when in 

 motion quite the most conspicuous objects in the land- 

 scape, are right. My notion is that they are intended to be 

 conspicuous. I have often amused myself when in an 

 abundance of scattered game, inhabitating a broken bush- 

 covered country, by reveahng myself suddenly to some 

 little group of animals. Off they would go, helter-skelter, 

 as fast as they could run. Those near at hand would follow 

 their example; those farther away would catch the flash of 

 moving bodies — the revealing stripes of the zebras, the 

 flicker of the gazelles, the shifting advertising lines of a 



