NATURE'S CUNNING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 11, 14 July 1928, Page 20

NATURE'S CUNNING

COLOURS OF BIRDS AND ANI-' MALS. "We are all familiar with the general idea that many birds and animals are coloured to match their surroundings, but how many realise the cunning derails which Nature employs to complete fthe illusion? (asks a contributor to the *' Newcastle Weekly Chronicle"). The tiger usually lives amid bamboos, giant grasses, and other undergrowth parched by-the sun and pierced by narrow black shadows, so that his striped coat blends perfectly with his background. The lion is a creature of the open veldt or desert, so his uniform, brown: is the most suitable' colour. Most members of the leopard family live in trees, where their spotted skin admirably reproduces the dappled effect of sunshine intercepted by/innumerable leaves. Watch, tho blkek and white magpie or woodpecker fly; into a tree-top and ho will disappear 3ike a ghost. Most animals are lighter i underneath than on their backs. This is a cunning device to climinato shadows which throw bodies into strong relief. As a rule, tho ground, being dark, throws a shadow on the underside of the animal, but this is balanced by ttiolighter tint,.so that a uniform tintis , obtained over the whole body. Animals with white fur arc evenly'colyurcd, as the snow reflects the light.