THE COLOURS OF DESERT ANIMALS 145 



For reasons which I shall give later I am not 

 convinced that the resemblance of birds to soil is 

 " protective," if by that word it is implied that the 

 resemblance affords protection from enemies, but 

 let us accept it that there is a close similarity between 

 the colour of the bird and the colour of its native 

 soil. 



It is also interesting that in the first plumage 

 these Crested Larks show very much the same 

 differences in shade as do the adults of the same 

 sub-species. The feathered young of G, c. brachyura 

 is, for instance, paler than that of G, c, nigricans, 

 and both of them are very much paler than specimens 

 of G. c. cristata, the Central European race. 



A somewhat similar case is that of the Houbara 

 Bustard. The typical sub-species {Chlamydotis u. 

 undulata) inhabits the Sahara and Southern Morocco, 

 and is of a mottled sandy colour, which accords 

 well with the pale and sandy soil on which it Hves. 

 In the Eastern Canary Islands (Fuerteventura and 

 Lanzarote) the sub-species C, u, fuerteventurce is 

 found : it differs from the typical sub-species in 

 the speckling and mottling of its upper surface 

 with black ; it harmonizes very closely with the 

 lava-strewn wastes of these islands, and the typical 

 pale race would be extremely conspicuous upon 

 them. Accurate information with regard to the 

 humidity of the air and the rainfall of these islands 

 is lacking, but Bannerman attributes the blackening 

 of the island race to its existence upon the blackish 

 lava. 



It seems to be agreed among American zoologists 



L 



