THE DANGER OF THE SOLDIER'S CAP.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECILTOR.1
Sta,—Has not our military cap been adopted rather too hastily, and is it not a possible source of danger to our men in the field P In ordinary daylight the most conspicuous part of the uniform in any group of soldiers seen, whether on the march, or lying on the grass, is the cap—a sharply defined disc, catching the light from the sky, and standing out clearly against the shadow beneath; an aureole, well deserved, but distinctly dangerous, making the part of the body most exposed in war conspicuous to the enemy. It seems to be conspicuous for two reasons. First, the colour is "flat" and unbroken, like that of paper, or painted board. A sheet of brown paper even on a brown road, or among brown leaves, or dead grass, is always conspicuous, for there is little " flat " colour in Nature. On the other band, a crouching partridge or hen pheasant, or woodcock on a nest, is invisible, even to Nature's aeroplanes—the birds of prey. Their feathers are brown, but not "flat" brown. The colour is mottled, and broken by blotches of many shades. A sitting rabbit is more conspicuous, for it is without these blotches, but even in a rabbit the colour is not "flat." It is broken by the numberless shadows of the hairs. Charles St. John, who had the eye of an artist as well as of a naturalist, and whose notes on natural history and sport in the Highlands were the delight of schoolboys forty years ago, used to say that the shepherd's plaid of black and white check on the hillside at a very short distance became invisible, It
would not have done so if it had been plain black, or white, or khaki. I have more than once been close to a black-and-white bird (the spur-winged plover) on cultivated ground in Egypt without noticing it till it moved. The irregular patches of black and white destroyed the outline of the bird. The second reason is that the sharply defined, perfect circle corre- sponds in shape to no natural form on earth—seen from an aeroplane the caps must be as conspicuous as a row of break- fast plates spread for a picnic on grass. Could not our men wear some soft, warm cap in the trenches P A tam-o'-shanter, for instance, is round, but not mathematically so; its uneven- ness would prevent it from reflecting a disc of light. Not being stretched on wire, it would not collect a puddle of rain in the middle, and some " beather-mixture " pattern in rough homespun would make it still less conspicuous. At all events, it cannot be necessary for our soldiers to fight in a cap modelled
on the full moon.—I am, Sir, &c., F. D. DuEwrrr. United University Club, S.W.
[The cap when new is doubtless too visible, but we imagine that the shine of its full orb is rapidly tarnished on active service. Rain, dust, and a well-battered surface take away itr brilliance.—En. Spectator.]
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