Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1899 — NATURE’S WAR PAINT. [ARTICLE]

NATURE’S WAR PAINT.

Dark Backs and Liglit Breasts Make Birds Almost Invisible. Passing through the Natural History Museum a day or two ago, my eye wag arrested by a case which apparently contained a gray, duck-like bird facing its own ghost. Tbe “no passage” barrier precluded closer Inspection, and for five minutes I stood staring at the case, unable to make out what that wraith-llke, almost Invisible bird-form might be. I, had given it up, when the descriptive tablet, which bad been pushed aside, came to my assistance. The exhibit is designed by a clever American naturalist to show why Nature has colored most wild beahts and birds dark above and light below. The visible bird was a model clad In flannel of dingy-gray, and against a background of similar hue it showed up distinctly, thknks to tbe light on its back and its own sbade. Its ghost-like companion, clad in the same way, owed Its invisibility to the application of a little dark point on its back and a little white paint underneath after the fashion affected by scores of birds. ' It seems Incredible that such painting could make the difference, but so it is.