32 if A TUEE STUDIES. 



COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 



BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E. 



THERE is a suggestive passage in Butler's "Hudibras/* 

 which maintains that 



" Fools are known by looking wise, 

 As men find woodcocks by their eyes." 



And if the axiom be correct, that a poet is only great 

 when he is true to nature, it must be admitted that 

 Butler has been singularly felicitous in this metaphor. 

 Whoever has seen a woodcock in its ordinary summer 

 plumage may form a good idea of the truth of the 

 poetic remark. As that bird moves about amongst 

 the fallen leaves of autumn, the greys and browns 

 and yellows of its feathers mingle so beautifully with 

 the like tints of its surroundings, that the animal is 

 absolutely concealed from any view but the practised 

 eye of the sportsman. As has been remarked of the 

 bird in question, even the very conspicuous and orna- 

 mental tail becomes hidden from view in a most 

 singular fashion. Below, these tail-feathers exhibit 

 a white colour tinted with a silver sheen and marked 

 with a deep black. Nothing more conspicuous than 

 such an ornament can well be imagined ; yet the tail 

 and its belongings are, nevertheless, wonderfully con- 

 cealed. For, as the bird reposes, these under lines 

 and tints are placed downwards ; and above, the 

 ashen-grey tints mingle perfectly with the bird's 



