At dusk, a sparrow flies through the dark woods in search of a meal. Spotting a plump hawk

moth clinging to a large tree trunk, the bird lands on a nearby branch. Moving in for the attack, the sparrow suddenly spies a pair of round, menacing eyes. The eyes seem to move up and down like those of an owl. Within a second, the sparrow is all tail feathers as it makes its retreat. But what about the moth？

In order to avoid being eaten, the moth practised a bit of natural "tom foolery" by exposing its secret weapon--eyespots on its wings.

Eyespots are round markings or colorations on animals which look like real eyes. Many in- sects, as well as fish and frogs, use them--in a variety of ways--as a defense against predators.

Eyespots can scare an attacker away--as in the case of the moth above--by making the attacker think it is facing one of its predators. Or they can simply fool predators into thinking they are being watched.

Even when the false eyes don't stop an attack, they may enable the one who wears them to survive. You see, eyespots are often located "far" from vital organs, on wings, for instance. They lure predators into attacking the "wrong end" of their prey.

The tropical butterfly fish, for example, has an eyespot at the base of its tail. Predatory fish will often try to attack this spot, confusing the dark circle for a real eye--only to find the fish escaping in a completely unexpected direction.

The eyespots on a peacock butterfly's wings work in a similar way. By luring the predator to the wings instead of the body, the eyespots protect the peacock butterfly's head from attack. Although the insect may lose a claw or suffer a clipped wing, at least it hasn't lost its head!

Eyespots work because they take advantage of a weakness in predators, known as "innocence of the eye." Basically, this means that animals believe what they see. Unlike humans, some animals cannot reason beyond what their instincts and past experiences tell them. So, if something looks like an eye to a predator, then it must be an eye--even if it graces the delicate wing of a butterfly.

The hawkmoth escaped the attack from the sparrow because ______.

A．an owl came to its rescue

B．the sparrow suddenly saw a hunter's eyes

C．the sparrow was suddenly attacked by another bird

D．the moth showed eye-like marking on its wings