The Red Indian Scouts when they wanted to reconnoitre an enemy's camp, used to tie a wolf's skin on their backs and walk on all fours, and, imitating the howl of a wolf, prowled round the camps at night.
In Australia the natives stalk emus—which are great birds something like an ostrich—by putting an emu's skin over themselves and walking with body bent and one hand held up to represent the bird's head and neck.
American scouts when peeping over a ridge or any place where their head might be seen against the sky line put on a cap made of wolf's head skin with ears on it—so that they may be mistaken for a wolf if seen.
From "Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa." By permission of Messrs. Smith & Elder.
Our scouts also when looking out among grass etc., tie a string or band round their head and stick a lot of grass in it, some upright some dropping over their face, so that their head is very invisible.
When hiding behind a big stone or mound, etc., they don't look over the top but round the side of it.
HOW TO TEACH STALKING.
Demonstrate the value of adapting colour of clothes to background, by sending out one boy about 500 yards to stand against different backgrounds in turn, till he gets one similar in colour to his own clothes.
The rest of the patrol to watch and to notice how invisible he becomes when he gets a suitable background, e.g. a boy in a grey suit standing in front of dark bushes, etc., is quite visible—but becomes less so if he stands in front of a grey rock or house; a boy in dark suit is very visible in a green field but not when he stands in an open door-way against dark interior shadow.