I have related my own experience in the Transvaal with Francolinus levaillantii, a single member of which from a covey I had disturbed squatted in a small hole in the path about eighty yards in front of me, and, depressing its back level with the earth, exhibited a good instance of the protection obtained by assimilative colouration.[1] A young Merganser deceived the Duke of Argyll and a party of his visitors at Inverary by simply remaining perfectly still on ground on which it was inconspicuous by reason of the protective resemblance or mimicry of its colour.[2] Mr. R. Kearton states:—"I have on more than one occasion seen a baby Peewit wandering about with half of its prison-house still attached to its downy rump, and if a Hawk or other bird of prey should happen to appear overhead they instinctively clap flat upon the ground, and remain motionless as stones until the danger has passed."[3] The Dabchick, on quitting the nest, according to Mr. Hudson, "invariably draws a coverlet of wet weeds over the eggs; the nest in appearance is then nothing but a bunch of dead vegetable rubbish floating in the water."[4] Young Emus are very different in colour from the old birds, and bear a delicate design of a pretty dark grey with numerous stripes on their back and sides. Mr. Semon relates:—"Young Emus are often pursued by Eagles and Hawks so frequent in Australia. When (so my blacks told me) the young Emus see a bird of prey soaring above them they quickly lie down flat upon the ground. A body as big as theirs would surely be much more conspicuous, set off as it is by grass, if it were evenly though ever so modesty coloured, than if its colouring be varied by stripes and spots. I myself have had occasion to notice how difficult it is to discover an Emu in the grass if it nestles to the ground."[5] Gilbert White remarks on the Stone Curlew (Œdicnemus crepitans):—"The young run
- ↑ 'A Naturalist in the Transvaal,' p. 75.—Subsequently I observed how this action could become habitual without a suitable environment. I flushed a pair of Francolinus subtorquatus, one of which squatted in the same manner, but, by force of circumstances, among the short, black, and charred remains of a grass fire. Here its colour stood out in bold relief, and I easily bagged it.
- ↑ Cf. W. Lauder-Lindsay, 'Mind in the Lower Animals,' vol. i. p. 526.
- ↑ 'With Nature and a Camera,' p. 210.
- ↑ 'Birds in London,' pp. 99–100.
- ↑ 'In the Australian Bush,' pp. 145–6.
