All
nature seems to have gone into half-mourning together, or, converted by
a passing Puritan missionary, to have clad itself incontinently in grey
and fawn-colour.
Even the larger beasts that haunt the desert take their tone not a
little from their sandy surroundings. You have only to compare the
desert-haunting lion with the other great cats to see at once the reason
for his peculiar uniform. The tigers and other tropical jungle-cats have
their coats arranged in vertical stripes of black and yellow, which,
though you would hardly believe it unless you saw them in their native
nullahs (good word 'nullah,' gives a convincing Indian tone to a
narrative of adventure), harmonise marvellously with the lights and
shades of the bamboos and cane-brakes through whose depths the tiger
moves so noiselessly.
Looking into the gloom of a tangled jungle, it is almost impossible to
pick out the beast from the yellow stems and dark shadows in which it
hides, save by the baleful gleam of those wicked eyes, catching the
light for one second as they turn wistfully and bloodthirstily towards
the approaching stranger. The jaguar, oncelot, leopard, and other
tree-cats, on the other hand, are dappled or spotted--a type of
coloration which exactly harmonises with the light and shade of the
round sun-spots seen through the foliage of a tropical forest. They,
too, are almost indistinguishable from the trees overhead as they creep
along cautiously on the trunks and branches.
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