Mimicry 



for their brilliant hues ; so vivid, in fact, are they that it 

 might be thought that undue attention would be drawn 

 to the creatures so endowed. And this is the case. To 

 be conspicuous, in some circumstances, is an advantage. 

 Most of these brightly coloured insects are extremely dis- 

 tasteful to birds and other insect-eating animals. Some 

 of them, the blister-beetles, give off an acrid fluid when 

 they are touched and accordingly have no enemies seeking 

 to make a meal of them. 



A few young birds, who have not yet learned the ways 

 of the world, may perchance make an attempt on the lives 

 of some of these smartly liveried insects, but even birds 

 learn by experience, and the insect with the garish coat is 

 usually protected by his very gaudiness. 



Again, certain insects are protected by their having 

 hairy coats. Few birds, except the cuckoo, will make a 

 meal of a hairy insect, however tempting he may be in 

 other respects. In some cases the hairs of insects are 

 irritable little poisoned stilettos, causing intense irritation 

 whenever they penetrate the skin, which they may easily 

 do, by reason of their small size. 



Mimicry amongst birds is by no means uncommon. 



" Protective mimicry is well illustrated by the common 

 cuckoo. This bird presents a really striking resemblance 

 to the sparrow-hawk, and thereby, it is supposed, it is 

 enabled to carry on with ease its nefarious practice of 

 putting its young out to nurse. By any small birds, such 

 as are victimised by the cuckoo, the sparrow-hawk is 

 greatly dreaded. So disguised then, the male cuckoo, 

 when its paramour is ready to dispose of an egg, hovers 

 over spots likely to contain nests of the desired foster 

 parents. These threatened, as they suppose, by the bully 

 of the country-side, at once commence to buffet him, gaining 

 courage, in the defence of home, which at other seasons of 

 the year they cannot command. Under this attack the 

 pretended marauder beats an affected retreat, followed 

 by his puny adversaries. When the pursuit has carried 



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