essence of distance. All other colors seen amidst the foliage might represent 

 one or another of its details, and any one of them occurring on an inhabitant 

 helps to conceal him; but the finishing touch is given by his wearing, generally 

 on his very middle, this picture of sky, which, because sky of course is not in 

 the wood at all, but immeasurably far beyond it, here represents no thing 

 whatever, but an actual hole. When we say, "I can see daylight right through 

 the place," we imply that there is nothing in that direction between our eyes 

 and space. A white patch, then, in any such situation, whenever the light 

 falls upon it sufficiently strongly, says clearly to the beholder, "There is 

 nothing in this direction." No wonder that such a vast number of species 

 that have sky glimpses in their foliage-background wear in their costumes 

 this magical safeguard. Even in dark woods where white itself is much 

 darkened, and where actual sky-glimpses are few, it is still the prerogative of 

 these white patterns to represent, and more or less to match, the lightest, most 

 illuminated and sky-like portions of the background. In general, the credit 

 of white as an unmistakable glimpse of sky through the trees is so good 

 that imitations of it easily profit by its name. There are often in sight a 

 thousand real sky-vistas — how shall a hawk or other animal spend its energy 

 in guarding against the occasional counterfeit! The fact undoubtedly is, 

 that disguise, by all the means that we have pointed out, proves so successful 

 as to discourage investigation, causing it to better repay predatory animals 

 to watch merely for motion, and waste little effort in scrutiny of motionless 

 details. 



Since the whole panorama of out-door objects is just one complexity of 

 millions of outlines made by different-colored objects relieving one against 

 another, each one showing against a more distant one, it follows that amidst 

 this vast embroidery, a scrap of imitation of it must generally pass unnoticed, 

 unless it takes the liberty oj moving about! All the patterns and ornaments 

 of the animal world are such scraps of imitation scenery, and their wearers 

 are hunted both by man and by beast in the same way — viz., the watching 

 with a relaxed eye as large a tract as possible for the least hint of motion. 



247 



