130 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[June 1, 1897. 



similar type of coloration, in which the startling contrast 

 of black and white seems to be for the purpose of rendering 

 them conspicuous ; and as some at least of these creatures 

 are endowed with a most disgusting odour, their con- 

 spicuousness has been regarded as warning other animals 

 from attacking them. The best known of these creatures 

 are the ill-famed American skimks, which are in the habit 

 of stalking over the Argentine pampas in full daylight, 

 with the most consummate indifference to the presence of 

 other and more powerful animals. And anyone who is in 

 doubt as to the cause of this proud indifference should 

 read Mr. W. H. Hudson's account of the terrible and 

 lasting effects of their fct'tid excretion, as detailed in " The 

 Naturalist in La Plata." Less familiar is the so-called 

 Cape polecat (Ictoni/x), an animal of about the same size 

 as an ordinary polecat, but having its fur marked with 

 broad longitudinal bands of blackish brown alternating 

 with white. As this creature is stated to have an odour 

 as disgusting as 

 that of a skunk, 

 there can be little 

 hesitation in 

 classing it among 

 animals possessing 

 "warning colours." 

 A second muste- 

 line [Pceciloijale 

 alhinucha), from 

 South Africa, is 

 likewise conspicu- 

 ously banded with 

 blackish brown and 

 white, and thus 

 closely resembles 

 the Cape polecat, 

 for which it might 

 readily be mis- 

 taken. Unfortu- 

 nately, its habits 

 seem very imper- 

 fectly known, and 

 it is difficult to 

 ascertain whether 

 it has an odour as 

 powerful as that of 

 its larger cousin. 

 Very probably, 

 however, it has 

 not, and that its 

 of the latter. If 

 coloration of the 

 to three distinct causes 



The GrCEEEZA 

 From a Photograph of a Specimeu in 



coloration is a true mimicry of that 

 this be so, we shall have the pied 

 animals above mentioned attributable 

 In the case of the guereza it 

 affords protection, from its resemblance to inanimate 

 surroundings ; in the skunk and Cape polecat it serves to 

 warn other animals from attacking a noisome beast, which 

 is thereby protected ; while the South African weasel 

 enjoys immunity from attack on account of its being 

 mistaken for the similarly coloured polecat. 



A WELL-LOVED HAUNT. 



By Harry F. Witherby. 



OF aU the delightful places that a naturalist can still 

 find in Old England, give me in winter a certain 

 stretch of lonely mudflats, and in spring the wild 

 and beautiful New Forest. 



The two places could not be more unlike, yet 

 there is something which makes them akin — in both one 



feels alone with wild nature, and in this hes a great 

 charm. 



Towards the end of April last I spent a few days with 

 some friends in the New Forest, in haunts well loved aud 

 long known ; and it is my present mtention to write of a 

 few of the birds we saw in the course of a long walk whilst 

 there. 



One of the chief delights of the New Forest is its endless 

 variety. In a single morning's walk it is possible to trudge 

 knee high in heather across a glorious moor, to saunter by 

 the wooded banks of a winding stream, to lose one's way 

 in the thickest wood, to wade through a marshy bog, or to 

 pace along the springy turf that grows in the wild un- 

 touched glades, and yet to find further on some new scene 

 — some different feature. 



Our way led first across a heather-clad moor, some 

 miles in length. We had scarcely gone ten yards when 

 we saw something that looked Uke a rat running through 



the heather. We 

 followed after it and 

 found that it was 

 a landrail, or corn- 

 crake, as it is some- 

 times called, which 

 had just arrived, no 

 doubt, from Africa, 

 and a fortnight 

 before its usual 

 time. How un- 

 willing this bird 

 always is to take to 

 its wings! It would 

 have preferred to 

 skulk and hide, but 

 we pressed it hard, 

 and at last it gave 

 up running and 

 flew straight away, 

 somewhat like a 

 partridge. 



On reaching the 

 bottom of a deU 

 where a few birch 

 trees were be- 

 coming clothed in 

 green — the delicate 

 green of spring — 

 we surprised two 

 greyhen, which, except for their large size, might have 

 been taken for red grouse, as they rushed off with powerful 

 flight. The greyhen and blackcock, known under the 

 general name of black grouse, are by no means plentiful 

 in the Forest, as they doubtless were in days gone by — 

 when, for instance, this moor was one unbroken sti-etch 

 and had no road intersecting it. 



As we reached the margin of the moor we disturbed half 

 a dozen does, which considered for a moment and then 

 sprang ofi' to a plantation of fir and oak bordering the 

 heather. We followed, and climbed the fence which they 

 had taken in their stride. We had advanced some way into 

 this wood, and I had been standing perfectly still in the 

 middle of a grassy ride for about five minutes, listening to 

 the sounds around, when, suddenly, a bird got up behind me. 

 I turned and saw a woodcock rising straight off the ground. 

 Feeling sure that the bird had risen from eggs or young, I 

 ran up to the spot, and looked carefully on the ground. 

 Apparently nothing was there but dead leaves and a few 

 weeds, so I began to examine the leaves one by one, tracing 

 their outline with my eye. In this way I soon discovered a 



{Colohua (guereza). 

 the British Museum (Natural History). 



