PROTECTIVE COLORATION 
509 
coloration exposes it to observation on the part of its foes; I think 
that it simply has no effect whatsoever. The giraffe never trusts 
to escaping observation; its sole thought is itself to observe any 
possible foe. At a distance of a few hundred yards, the colour 
pattern becomes indistinct to the eye, and the animal appears of a 
nearly uniform tint, so that any benefit given by the colour pattern 
must be comparatively close at hand. On the very rare occasions 
when beasts of prey—that is, lions—do attack giraffes, it is usually 
at night, when the coloration is of no consequence ; but even by 
daylight I should really doubt whether any giraffe has been saved 
from an attack by lions owing to its coloration allowing it to 
escape observation. It is so big, and so queer ly shaped, that any 
trained eyes detect it at once, if within a reasonable distance ; it 
only escapes observation when so far off' that its coloration does 
not count one way or the other. There is no animal which will 
not at times seem invisible to the untrained eyes of the average 
white hunter, and any beast of any shape or any colour standing or 
lying motionless, under exceptional circumstances, may now and 
then escape observation. The elephant is a much more truly 
sylvan beast than the giraffe, and it is a one-coloured beast, its 
coloration pattern being precisely that which Mr. Thayer points 
out as being most visible. But I have spent over a minute in 
trying to see an elephant not fifty yards off', in thick forest, my 
black companion vainly trying to show it to me; I have had just 
the same experience with the similarly coloured rhinoceros and 
buffalo when standing in the same scanty bush that is affected by 
giraffes, and with the rhinoceros also in open plains where there 
are ant-hills. It happens that I have never had such an experience 
with a giraffe. Doubtless such experiences do occur with giraffes, 
but no more frequently than with elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo ; 
and in my own experience I found that I usually made out giraffes 
at considerably larger distances than I made out rhinos. The 
buffalo does sometimes try to conceal itself, and, Mr. Thayer to 
the contrary notwithstanding, it is then much more difficult to 
make out than a giraffe, because it is much smaller and less oddly 
shaped. The buffalo, by the way, really might be benefited by 
protective coloration, if it possessed it, as it habitually lives in 
cover, and is often preyed on by the lion ; whereas the giraffe is 
not protected at all by its coloration, and is rarely attacked by 
lions. 
Elephants and rhinoceroses occasionally stand motionless, wait¬ 
ing to see if they can place a foe, and at such times it is possible 
they are consciously seeking to evade observation. But the giraffe 
never under any circumstances tries to escape observation, and I 
doubt if, practically speaking, it ever succeeds so far as wild men or 
wild beasts that use their eyes at all are concerned. It stands 
