CONSPICUOUSNESS IN NATURE 15 



an entity in Nature, and may be conveniently 

 classified thus : 



1. Signals to friends. 



Purposely 

 conspicuous 

 movements. I 2. Signals to 



enemies. 



(a) Repelling conspicuous move- 

 ment : to repel an enemy, 

 to frighten it away. 



(&) Attracting conspicuous 

 movement : to attract an 

 enemy, to draw its attack. 



Position. Conspicuousness as the result 

 of position cannot properly be considered 

 apart from the animal's surroundings, their 

 form and colour. A moth resting on a tree- 

 trunk may be conspicuous or not, according 

 as its form and colour contrasts or harmonises 

 with that of the tree. However, there is 

 little doubt that some animals sometimes, 

 and others frequently, purposely take up 

 positions which render them conspicuous in 

 Nature. It is not always easy to decide 

 whether any given observed position of an 

 animal which is conspicuous is the result 

 of accident or purpose. Only by a thorough 

 knowledge of the habits of the animal, and 

 after many observations have been made, 

 can this be decided. For in every animal's 

 surroundings can be found that which will 

 render it, on the one hand, conspicuous, or 



