The Argosy — page 307: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

286 Ammal Disguise and Defence. number of chaffinches to be found everywhere in the country—the ruse succeeding admirably against bird-nesting youngsters, notwith- standing the close proximity of the nest in most cases to humam dwellings. These devices are, of course, most common with the birds that nest on the ground, or build in low-lying shrubs or in hedgerows ; those, on the other hand, that build in lofty trees do not have the same need to resort to such devices, finding in mere elevation a pro- tection from most of their enemies. The birds whose eggs are easily distinguished by their colour,, generally take care to cover them neatly with leaves or feathers when: they rise from the nest. The birds which build what are called domed. nests, indeed—only another form in which the protective instinct ex- presses itself—usually have light-coloured eggs. The wood-pigeon builds high, but in the darkest part of the wood it can find, and to this protection. it occasionally trusts too much, and is sometimes so: careless with its nest—only a few twigs laid over each other crossways —that the shine of its eggs can be seen through in little slanting seams of white. To some extent, though not perhaps to the same extent as in the case of birds, this is also true of quadrupeds. The hare, which does not have the protection of burrowing that the rabbit has, conforms its colour so exactly to the dead leaves and herbage among which it couches that it would more often escape its: enemies were it not for its extreme timidity, which makes it start and run when nearly approached. Several of our well-known quadrupeds: are privileged to put on winter dresses—the most striking perhaps of the protective habits belonging to them—and of these we shall speak later on. Perhaps in the whole realm of nature there is not a more remark-. able illustration of some phases of the. protective instinct than is to be found in that strange. creature, the night-jar, eve-churr, dorr-hawk, or goat-sucker, for it bears many names. In some parts of the country it is regarded as a monstrosity—a kind of deformed or abnormally- developed hawk, and it 1s accordingly shot down or hunted merci- lessly by the farmers and rustics, who have indeed surrounded it with no end of superstitions. There is not a little, it must be confessed, in its appearance and im its peculiar habits to justify this. Its mouth is carried far back and is: wide, and on the upper part of the beak it is armed with a drooping row of peculiar spike-like appendages or bristles (really quills or un- developed feathers). It has no beak to speak of, and when seen in the front face it looks, with its bright, wide-open eyes, like some eerie elfin thing, more especially if perched on the branch of a tree or brooding on what passes for its nest below on the bare ground. Its stretch of wing is remarkable for the size of its body, and its flight is very silent, Eomichbooks.co