Birds of the Indian Hills 



the Himalayas, so that neither the grosbeak 

 nor the oriole can possibly derive any benefit 

 from this resemblance. 



Now, cabinet zoologists are never tired of 

 writing about mimicry. They assert that when 

 organisms belonging to different families bear a 

 close external resemblance, this resemblance has 

 been brought about by natural selection. Hav- 

 ing made this assertion, they expend reams of 

 paper in demonstrating how one or both of the 

 species benefits by the resemblance. 



However, scientific books make no mention 

 of the resemblance between the oriole and the 

 grosbeak. The reason for this is, of course, 

 that the resemblance in this instance cannot be a 

 case of mimicry. Now, I regret to have to say 

 that men of science take up the same attitude 

 towards their theories as lawyers do regard- 

 ing the cases they argue in Courts of Justice. 

 There would be no harm in taking up this 

 attitude if men of science were to explain that 

 they are acting the part of advocates, that they 

 are fighting for a theory, and trying to persuade 

 the world to accept this theory. It is because 

 they masquerade as judges, and put forward a 

 one-sided case as a matured judicial finding, 



that I take exception to their methods. 

 i68 



