Jan., 1913 
CONCEALING AND REVEALING COLORATION OF ANIMALS 
11 
That there are almost innumerable cases of concealing coloration, in varying 
degrees of perfection, is so generally conceded that it needs no argument or ci- 
tation of instances ; and some species are so colored as to easily escape observa- 
tion in such a great variety of situations as to make quite unnecessary the Messrs. 
Thayers’ elaborate, interesting, and in the main perhaps correct, explanation of 
how different types of broken patterns are suited to different types of back- 
ground. Difference of opinion is found only when we come to discuss certain 
definite species or to decide how nearly universal the phenomenon is. 
That there are many cases of clearly revealing coloration (such as the bison 
above mentioned) is usually admitted, even by the most radical advocates of the 
other side of the problem, though often in their generalizations they use language 
which plainly contradicts their admissions of exceptions. Among animals whicn 
would apparently be as much benefitted by concealment as others, there are such 
numerous unexplained inconsistencies as may well cause one to hesitate about 
wholesale declarations. Many of the explanations off'ered utterly fail to explain. 
One must wonder if the assertion that white herons are concealingly colored be- 
cause they are seen by their prey or their enemies against a white sky is at all 
satisfactory to anyone familiar with the range, habits and habitats of this and 
other herons. Is it not more often seen in solid white, outlined against a deep 
blue, leaden or gray sky, or a dark bank, or a solid bank of foliage? At any 
rate, before the white heron was exterminated over most of its former range, it 
was found, at least in many places, in the same habitat, and, so far as one 
may judge, with practically the same feeding habits, as the blue and green herons. 
Such instances as this, and they are quite numerous, should not be lightly passed 
over. It does not help matters to say that if we knew more of the intimate life 
relations of these animals we would find all to be concealingly colored, because 
that is a mere assertion. 
Another large class of inconsistencies involves those species of which the 
male is radically different in color from the female. Forced explanations are not 
conducive to scientific progress. Taking the redwing as a much discussed ex- 
ample, it has been asserted that the male is concealingly colored because it is seen 
by its enemy, the hawk, from above, against the dark mud and dark foliage of 
its swampy habitat, and that the lighter wing-patch would be easily mistaken for 
a flower. Yet over a large part of its range (including, of course, the various 
slightly differentiated species and subspecies) during a large part of the year it 
finds no dark mud or dark foliage as a background. Species should be con- 
sidered in relation to their whole range and to all other species and other ele- 
ments of their environment. Even more difficult are those species of which the 
male is much like the female during part of the year, but wears more conspicu- 
ous colors during the nesting season. The theory that the conspicuous color is 
assumed in order that the male may attract the female is hardly satisfactory. 
The theory that the male is so colored in order to attract enemies from the nest 
may possibly have some weight, especially in view of the habit developed by other 
species of leading enemies from the nest by fluttering along the ground as if wound- 
ed. Such species as the bobolink and lark bunting, the males of which, more con- 
spicuously colored, rise into the air and then sing as they glide downward as if 
purposely to attract attention to their alighting-place, afford a chance for observa- 
tions of value on this point, if they have not been made, by noting in a great num- 
ber of cases whether the bird glides down toward the nest or away from the nest. 
An objection to this theory is that many of the conspicuously colored males assist 
in feeding the young when hatched, and some, at least, habitually feed the female 
