s helmet. Near here are two curious
sorts of nests--one the Norfolk plover, or, as he is called, thick-knee;
the eggs are just laid on the sand, and are so much the same colours as
the speckled stones around that you have to look hard to find them, and
at a little distance they seem to vanish altogether. The funny little
wee birds, too, are just like rough sand, and have two black lines down
their backs; crouching down without moving, they would be well hidden.
The common tern lays its eggs amongst rough stones, where you would
think that anything so fragile as an egg would easily get broken. Near
his case there is a beautiful pure white gull, who lives in the Arctic
regions among the ice and snow. It is a wonderful law of Nature that
birds and animals often resemble their surroundings. We have seen that
the tiger is not easily seen among his bamboo-stems, and that birds the
colour of sand live on sand; well in the Arctic regions, where there is
perpetual ice and snow, nearly all the creatures are pure white, from
the great Polar bear down to the rabbits and gulls. This is explained by
the fact that if an animal is not white he shows up against the ground,
and then his enemies, other animals waiting to prey upon him, see him,
and catch him and eat him; so the white ones escape, and as children
take after their parents they are white, too. And if one of the children
happens to be darker he is quickly eaten, and his whiter brothers and
sisters escape. This white gull has made a nest that looks like nothing
but a muff of moss lying on very rough and sharp stones; there is not
much reason why the little ones should want to climb out, at all events,
while their feet are tender. Some enormous eagles attract attention: one
with strong beak and claws. A condor near is one of the largest birds in
the world. His native place is in South America, and at first when
travellers brought accounts of this gigantic bird they were not
believed; but at last someone managed to shoot one and brought it to
England, so then he had to be believed. The one here in the Museum has
spread his wings, and the length from end to end is larger than the
tallest man. The hideous vultures near have scraggy necks, with a ruff
round them. The vultures never kill animals for their own food, but live
on the refuse that is left by other animals or men. The eagle is like
the lion among the animals, and the vulture is like the jackal, who runs
about picking up all