Animals that Advertise 



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and started toward a near-by stream for a pail 

 of water, when I almost stepped on a rattler, 

 which my light footfall had not awakened. I 

 sprang away and in an instant his rattle was 

 going, faster and faster, singing higher and 

 higher, as he saw me preparing to attack him. 

 He did his very best to let me know how danger- 

 ous he was, as he would have done if a deer, or 

 horse, or anything else he had reason to fear had 

 come near. 



Animal advertising with this purpose, how- 

 ever, is more often addressed to the eye than 

 to the ear, and consists in the wearing and dis- 

 play, sometimes in moments of fear or defiance 

 only, often continuously, of a conspicuous 

 badge, which all the people of the woods recog- 

 nize as the sign of a creature not to be meddled 

 with with impunity. 



The advertisement here takes the form usually 

 of some striking color-marking or badge; and 

 our American skunk has been a classic example 

 ever since Wallace spoke of its broad white 

 bands and bushy white tail. That tail is held 

 aloft as he marches through the grass or along 



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