beast is able to hide itself so effectually that it can 

 charge from a distance of a dozen yards on to those 

 who are searching for it. 



The secret of it seems to lie in two things : first, 

 absolute stillness ; and second, breaking up the colour. 

 No wild animal, except those protected by distance 

 and open country, will stand against a background of 

 light or of uniform colour, nor will it as a rule allow 

 its own shape to form an unbroken patch against its 

 chosen background. 



They work on Nature's lines. Look at the ostrich 

 the cock, black and handsome, so strikingly different 

 from the commonplace grey hen ! Considering that 

 for periods of six weeks at a stretch they are anchored 

 to one spot hatching the eggs, turn and turn about, 

 it seems that one or other must be an easy victim for 

 the beast of prey, since the same background cannot 

 possibly suit both. But they know that too ; so the 

 grey hen sits by day, and the black cock by night ! 

 And the ostrich is not the fool it is thought to be 

 burying its head in the sand ! Knowing how the 

 long stem of a neck will catch the eye, it lays it flat 

 on the ground, as other birds do, when danger threatens 

 the nest or brood, and concealment is better than 

 flight. That tame chicks will do this in a bare pad- 

 dock is only a laughable assertion of instinct. 



Look at the zebra ! There is nothing more striking, 

 nothing that arrests the eye more sharply in the 

 Zoo than this vivid contrast of colour ; yet in the 

 bush the wavy stripes of black and white, are a protec- 

 tion, enabling him to hide at will. 



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