small detail of such a pattern as the zebra's, each separate hair contributing 

 but a tiny share to the effect, so that the markings might be disposed quite 

 arbitrarily on the beast's coat, as far as the mere form and character of their 

 component parts is concerned. 



Near akin to the zebra-pattern is that worn by tigers. But the tiger's 

 black stripes are narrower, further apart, and more broken and irregular, 

 while its ground-color is tawny or deep golden brown instead of white or pale 

 buff. The main obliterative principles, however, are alike in both. The 

 tiger's coat is obliteratively shaded to minute perfection — darkest along the 

 ridge of the back, lightest on the throat and belly, with intermediate shades 

 for intermediate regions and smaller details of rotundity. His general color 

 is that of the interiors of bushy thickets, reed-beds, the underwood of the 

 loftier jungle, and all brown, half-shaded coverts; while his stripes picture 

 vertical stems and slender trunks in shadow, and also the sun- or moon-en- 

 gendered shadows that such plants cast upon the ground in opener places. 

 As with the zebra, however, his pattern is essentially and intrinsically 'se- 

 cant' and obliterative, and nothing short of a perfectly plain background 

 can neutralize its power. He is a beast who hunts his prey by stalking, often 

 in full daylight; accordingly, his huge form has been 'blotted out' by counter 

 shading; he is likewise a beast who hunts in and among bushy and grassy 

 thickets, full of upright 'stripes' of vegetation, and accordingly he bears a 

 system of generalized dusky stripes upon his brown, obliteratively-shaded 

 coat. The terrible inconspicuousness of the tiger in his native jungles has 

 long been a famous fact, and no evidence on that score need here be cited. 

 Suffice it to say that this inconspicuousness is due primarily to the beast's 

 obliterative shading, and secondarily to his stripes and his tan-color, which 

 have hitherto alone been held responsible, in the opinion of men. Turn a 

 dead tiger or his stuffed skin upside down in a normal outdoor lighting, 

 and, arrange him as you will against fitting backgrounds, he will be not dim 

 and illusive, but conspicuous, because of his now inverted obliterative 

 shading. 



140 



