Fig. 103. A Compound Picture. (Photographic, except tor the upper renr-view of the Hare. The 

 crouching Hare was photographed from life; the Skunk from a stuffed skin.) This picture, by show- 

 ing the old familiar type of obliterative coloration alongside of the obliterative eflfect of white upper- 

 surface patterns, so long supposed to make their wearer couspicuous, prepares the reader to discover 

 that all patterns and colors whatsoever, of all animals that ever prey, or are preyed on, are, under 

 certain normal circumstances, obliterative. Animals which need to escape notice when looked at 

 from above, match the ground. Those that must not be detected when looked at from a lower level, 

 match the sky, or whatever combination of sky, vegetation, etc., commonly forms their background 

 from this view-point. Between these two extremes — if we count sky and sky-reflected-iu-water as one — 

 are ranged the color-schemes of most of the animal kingdom. 



In this illustration the Skunk against the sky loses the white parts of his silhouette, and his dark is 

 left to look like bushes, etc., in the background (A). On the other hand, the Skunk against the ground 

 loses his dark parts, and his white, though often, as here, conspicuous in itself, has a largely inorganic and deceptive contour, and. when seen 

 amid obstructing twigs and leaves, especially at night, is potently obliterative (Cf. Figs. 104-106). It is in fact not pure white, but 

 nearer to the color of bleached dead leaves and twigs. The Leaping Hare's white rump vanishes against the sky (0), from the sight 

 of the creeping fox, or other quadruped pursuer. The fox's eyes are, at that moment, lower than the Hare's tail, and he sees it 

 against the sky, (or, in the woods, the sky's light through the leaves). (D) shows a man's view of the same hare, and explains why men 

 have thought this white conspicuous. To a young hare this white rear or the mother would present the same difficulty as to the fox. On 

 the other hand, a crouching Hare, so admirably merged into his surroundings when looked at from above, C^), is boldly conspicuous 

 when seen from the position of a mouse or cricket, as in {F), and in the detached figure of a Tame Hare, (GO- If a mouse could tneorize, 

 he would know the mcunk to be obliteratively colored, but would consider the hare, except when it was running away from him, a most 

 conspicuous animal, thus reversing men's notions. In this illustration, the hare in profile against the sky would be still more convincing 

 were his members extended for action, showing a more revealing outline. [Cf. the Domestic Hare (GO.] 



