324 



ANIMAL DEFENCES 



of enemies may be perceived, feed boldly during the day, relying 

 upon their powers of rapid retreat in the case of attack. This 

 is particularly noticeable in those species which obtain their food 

 in places where a wide outlook over the surrounding country is 

 obtainable. Wild Horses and their allies, Giraffes, Antelopes, 

 Goats, Sheep, Kangaroos, and Ostriches, will serve as examples. 



It is also obvious that species exhibiting warning coloration, 

 and mimicking animals, are specially equipped to secure their 

 protection during the day, provided that the current interpretation 

 of these phenomena rests on a firm basis. The same thing is 

 probably very largely true of protective resemblance, whether this 

 is special or general, as after dusk no useful end can be served by 

 such arrangements, except perhaps on bright moonlight nights. 



Having now discussed in a tentative fashion cases where some 

 amount of protection is gained by animals which are active at 

 certain Times, we come to instances where the Place of feeding 

 is useful in this respect. 



ANIMALS PROTECTED BY FEEDING IN SUITABLE 



PLACES 



Under this heading may be, in the first place, included all 

 those forms which exhibit protective resemblance, whether general 

 or special. It is quite clear, for example, that a colour-scheme 

 which harmonizes with certain surroundings so as to result in 

 inconspicuousness, may be very conspicuous if viewed against 

 some other kind of background. Romanes (in Darwin and 

 After Darwin], in describing a particularly good instance of this, 

 says: " . . . Hares and rabbits . . . instinctively crouch upon 

 those surfaces the colours of which they resemble; and I have 

 often remarked that if, on account of any individual peculiarity 

 of coloration, the animal is not able thus to secure concealment, 

 it nevertheless exhibits the instinct of crouching which is of 

 benefit to all its kind, although, from the accident of its own 

 abnormal colouring, this instinct is then actually detrimental to 

 the animal itself. For example, every sportsman must have 

 noticed that the somewhat rare melanic [i.e. black] variety of 

 the common rabbit will crouch as steadily as the normal brownish- 

 grey type, notwithstanding that, owing to its abnormal colour, a 

 ' nigger-rabbit ' thus renders itself the most conspicuous object in 

 the landscape." 



