66 MIMICRY, AND OTHER PROTECTIVE 
cats, horses, dogs, and cattle, white poultry, pigeons, 
turkeys, and ducks, and white rabbits. Some of these 
animals have been domesticated for a long period, 
others only for a few centuries; but in almost every 
case in which an animal has been thoroughly domesti- 
cated, parti-coloured and white varieties are produced 
and become permanent. 
It is also well known that animals in a state of nature 
produce white varieties occasionally. Blackbirds, star- 
lings, and crows are occasionally seen white, as well as 
elephants, deer, tigers, hares, moles, and many other 
animals; but in no case is a permanent white race 
produced. Now there are no statistics to show that 
the normal-coloured parents produce white offspring 
oftener under domestication than in a state of nature, 
and we have no right to make such an assumption if 
the facts can be accounted for without it. But if the 
colours of animals do really, in the various instances 
already adduced, serve for their concealment and pre- 
servation, then white or any other conspicuous colour 
must be hurtful, and must in most cases shorten an 
animal’s life. A white rabbit would be more surely the 
prey of hawk or buzzard, and the white mole, or field 
mouse, could not long escape from the vigilant owl. 
So, also, any deviation from those tints best adapted 
to conceal a carnivorous animal would render the pur- 
suit of its prey much more difficult, would place it at 
a disadvantage among its fellows, and in a time of 
scarcity would probably cause it to starve to death. 
On the other hand, if an animal spreads from a 
