CHAPTER VII 

 THE COLOURS OF DESERT ANIMALS 



There is no doubt that the colour of desert animals 

 is in some way the result of the conditions under 

 which the creatures hve, because it is quite char- 

 acteristic of them, and not of animals from other 

 types of country. Whether this colour is due to 

 chmate or is protective we do not know, and I 

 propose first to discuss the facts and then to examine 

 a theory that has been brought forward to explain 

 them. 



The majority of the animals which Hve in deserts 

 are coloured buff, or sandy, or reddish-grey, and as 

 plants are scanty and only very rarely cover the 

 surface of the earth, we may say that generally the 

 desert fauna resembles the ground on which it lives. 



Furthermore, the colour of the typical desert 

 creature is imiform, without remarkable pattern on 

 the upper surface. A few birds, such as the Horned 

 Lark (Eremophila alpestris hilopha) and the Cream- 

 coloured Courser {Cursorius gallicus) and a few 

 Gazelles among the mammals, have blackish mark- 

 ings on the head, but such a pattern is exceptional. 



Though the dorsal surface of most desert animals 

 appears to a careless glance to be of one colour, 



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