GAY PLUMES AND DULL 



little green frog, and the leopard frog, and the pick- 

 erel frog, all quite showily marked. So there we 

 are, trying to tabulate Nature when she will not 

 be tabulated! Whether it be the phrase "protective 

 coloration," or the imprint of the environment, with 

 which we seek to capture her, she will not always 

 be captured. In the tropics there are gaudily 

 colored tree-frogs, — blue, yellow, striped, — frogs 

 with red bodies and blue legs, and these showy 

 creatures are never preyed upon, they are uneat- 

 able. But the old question comes up again — are 

 the colors to advertise their uneatableness, or are 

 they the necessary outcome, and would they be the 

 same in a world where no living thing was preyed 

 upon by another ? The acids or juices that make 

 their flesh unpalatable may be the same that pro- 

 duce the bright colors. To confound the cause with 

 the efifect is a common error. I doubt if the high 

 color of some poisonous mushrooms is a warning 

 color, or has any reference to outward conditions. 

 The poison and the color are probably inseparable. 

 The muskrat's color blends him with his sur- 

 roundings, and yet his enemies, the mink, the fox, 

 the weasel, trail him just the same; his color does 

 not avail. The same may be said of the woodchuck. 

 What color could he be but earth color? and yet 

 the wolf and the fox easily smell him out. If he 

 were snow-white or jet-black (as he sometimes is), 

 he would be in no greater danger. 

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