BODILY CHARACTERISTICS— INCONSPICUOUSNESS 281 



thither, scratching and scraping with their bills, they seek for 

 food. Without anxiety they allow the rider to approach within 

 a distance of a hundred paces. A good field-glass enables one 

 to see not only every movement, but also the more prominent 

 colours of their plumage. With depressed head, retracted neck, 

 and body held almost horizontally, they run about in search of 

 seeds, the few grains which the desert grasses bear, freshly- 

 unfolded panicles, and insects. Some stretch out their necks 

 from time to time and peer circumspectly around; others, quite 

 careless, paddle in the sand, preening their feathers, or lie at 

 ease, half-sideways, in the sun. All this one can distinctly see, 

 and one can count that there are over fifty, perhaps nearly a 

 hundred. What sportsman would their presence not excite? 

 Sure of his booty, the inexperienced traveller shuts up his field- 

 glass, gets hold of his gun, and slowly approaches the gay 

 company. But the birds disappear before his eyes. None has 

 run or flown, yet none is to be seen. It seems as if the earth 

 had swallowed them. The fact is, that, trusting to the likeness 

 between their plumage and the ground, they have simply squatted. 

 In a moment they have become stones and little heaps of sand. 

 Ignorant of this, the sportsman rides in upon them, and is startled 

 when they rise with simultaneous suddenness, and, loudly calling 

 and scolding, take wing and fly noisily away. But if he should 

 succeed in bringing one down, he will not fail to be struck by their 

 colouring and marking, which is as remarkable as their behaviour. 

 The sand-coloured upper surface, shading sometimes into gray, 

 sometimes towards bright yellow, is broken and adorned by broad 

 bands, narrower bars, delicate lines ; by dots, spots, points, streaks, 

 and blurs, so that one might fancy at first sight that birds so marked 

 must be conspicuous from a distance. But all this colour-medley 

 is simply the most precise colour of the ground ; every dark and 

 light spot, every little stone, every grain of sand seems to have 

 its counterpart on the plumage. It is no wonder then that the 

 earth can, as it were, make the bird part of itself, and secure its 

 safety, which is further assured by the creature's strong wings, 

 which are capable of incomparably swift flight." 



A great many Lizards (see fig. 60) inhabit dry sandy places, 

 and present dull coloration in accordance with their surroundings, 

 as is the case with the common British Sand- Lizard {Lacerta 

 agilis), while numerous species are to be found in desert regions. 



