Brooklyn Museum Quarterly . essories. More significant still isthe fact that suggestive illustrations teem in the terrestrialsurroundings; the mottled moth on the tree trimk, the brownpartridge squatting invisibly among dead leaves, the sand-colored lizard on the desert floor, are his models. Hues ofinherent low visibility, counter shading, obliterative patterns,blurred outlines, disruptive contrasts, actual imitation of thesurroundings—all these he draws directly from nature. Theolive-drab of the Army uniform is itself a color that aboundsin nature, but its visibility is lowest under tropical
Brooklyn Museum Quarterly . essories. More significant still isthe fact that suggestive illustrations teem in the terrestrialsurroundings; the mottled moth on the tree trimk, the brownpartridge squatting invisibly among dead leaves, the sand-colored lizard on the desert floor, are his models. Hues ofinherent low visibility, counter shading, obliterative patterns,blurred outlines, disruptive contrasts, actual imitation of thesurroundings—all these he draws directly from nature. Theolive-drab of the Army uniform is itself a color that aboundsin nature, but its visibility is lowest under tropical sunlightand in open country. The darker, less yellow^ shade Avornby the Marines is better adapted to the latitude and atmos-pheric conditions of western Europe, and is, in fact, surpassedin approach to perfection only by the feldgrau of theenemy. Turning now from the conditions of land camouflageto our specific subject, it is almost needless to refer to thecontrast presented by the flat, illimitable expanse of the 37 ^IP. A whalebird (Prion) of the subantarctic Atlantic, a living ex-ample of low visibility over an ocean similar in meteorologicalfeatures to that of the northern war zone. In the saturation,wave-length, and reflecting power of its dominant hue, thewhalebird substantially agrees with omega-gray, the colorespecially devised for low visibility in high latitudes. ocean, across which the object to be rendered inconspicuousmust travel at a rapid rate, and Avithoiit the advantage of %any protective ruse save what it can carry with it. Not onlyis there no co^er, and no ])ackground possessing concealingfeatures comparable with those of the land, but moreover,the camoufleur finds little aid in the field of natural history,for expressions of effective camouflage in animals that liveon or al)ove the surface of the sea are exceedingly rare. Onesuch example was. however, pointed out by the writer earlyin the course of the war, namely the small, subantarcticpetrels or whalebi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbrooklynmuseumqu46broouof
