Warning Colouring a Drawback 
quality—be it strength, pugnacity, sting, or un- 
pleasant taste—which renders it comparatively 
immune from persecution, proceed to advertise 
the fact by assuming a gaudy or striking colour? 
It would surely be better for such an organism to 
remain inconspicuous. By becoming showy it is 
visible to every young bird who, not having yet 
learned that the creature in question is unfit for 
food, seizes and perhaps kills it. It is true that 
the young bird vows that never again will it 
touch another such organism. But of what avail 
to the dying example of warning colouration is 
the resolution of the young bird? Moreover, the 
organism in question, by being conspicuous, also 
advertises itself to those few enemies which will 
eat it. There are always, as Professor Poulton 
justly remarks, animals which are enterprising 
enough to take advantage of prey which has 
at least the advantage of being easily seen and 
caught. 
It is possible to cite cases where animals, not- 
withstanding the fact that they possess natural 
defences, become the prey of others in some 
exceptional cases. 
The salamander can be eaten with comparative 
impunity by the toad, a creature very likely to 
meet with it. 
The toad itself may be eaten; Finn saw the 
Indian toad (Bufo melanostictus) eat another of 
its own kind. He further observed that the 
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