COLORATION OF GAME ANIMALS. 53 



It is possible that the prototypes of many of the modern African buck were 

 evolved during an epoch, and in a district, where red soil was prevalent, much as it is 

 now in Africa. Also that for some purpose, protective or otherwise, it was beneficial 

 to them to assume this colour. Should such a state of things have ever been, 

 then, allowing for subsequent fading and intensifying of this colour, the ground colour 

 of the coats of most African antelope and buck may be accounted for by the 

 theory of a past utility. For the great majority of these are of some dark red or 

 chestnut colour, viz., eland, giraffe, the hartebeests, the bushbucks, bongo, lechwe, 

 puku, impala, and many kobs, gazelles, oribis, duikers, steinbuck, etc. 



Assuming that this colour was protective in origin, the next step is to break 

 up the outline so that the form of the animal does not stand out as a whole. With 

 all animals and birds it may be noticed that the bellies and under parts are lighter 

 coloured and often almost white. The lower part of an animal is almost always in 

 shade. The sun never shines direct upon these parts, and so they do not show up 

 as white or shining surfaces. The effect of this arrangement is to make the upper 

 half of the body and also the legs stand out from the lower half and appear more 

 definite in form, while the bottom half, being less distinct, appears to be at a greater 

 distance from the observer. The idea conveyed to the eye by a rapid glance in a 

 bad light is that there is an ant-hill, stone, or bush with a light patch of grass 

 or ground seen below and through it. By this arrangement the whole shape of an 

 animal's body seldom stands out in relief, unless against the sky-line. 



This is Nature's principle in nearly all her protective coloration in bird life. 



However, the mere fact of being in shade might account for the lighter colour, 

 just in the same way as all parts of plants concealed from light, such as roots, 

 bulbs, and banked celery, assume a white colour. By such conjectures as these we 

 can account for the ground colour and the white or light-coloured bellies of the 

 majority of game animals ; but this is, after all, mere idle speculation, and is based on 

 the assumption that conditions must have been very different to those now existing. 

 Such a theory also must assume that the beasts of prey of former times hunted by 

 sight, and not by smell. Those of the present day hunt almost entirely by scent. 



It is quite possible that the white rumps of a great proportion of the buck family 

 may have been, and in some cases may still be, as Wallace says, " danger signals " 

 like the rabbit's scut. White is the most conspicuous of colours, and a white patch 

 in the distance means a flying buck, and hence danger, a signal which all others 

 in sight immediately profit by. It is possible that the other curious markings may 

 also be recognition or tribal marks, but it is unlikely. They certainly serve no 

 useful purpose as such at present, but of these more later. 



