SOMK MODERN VIEWS 27 



not journey f;ir ; others certainly do perform considerable 

 migrations. It matters not, however, whether these 

 foster parents are eminently migratory, for they do not 

 accompany the emigrant Cuckoos on the journey to their 

 winter retreats, which lie in the equatorial regions, or to 

 the south of them. It is highly probable that the 

 young of many birds go off on their own account as 

 soon as they are able to shift for themselves, especially 

 those which compose the first families of species which 

 are double-brooded. Not only do these in many instances 

 migrate apart from their parents, but no doubt they often 

 migrate in advance of them. 



The case of the young of the Cuckoo and other 

 birds, and the fact that birds travel during the hours of 

 darkness, convince me that migratory birds are endowed 

 with " inherited but unconscious experience " (the phrase 

 is Professor Newton's). This special sense of direction 

 guides them, though they know it not, and enables them 

 to reach the seasonal homes of their respective forebears, 

 wherever these may be. I was convinced of this 

 unconscious guidance by my singular experiences on 

 board the lightship, to which allusion will be made anon. 



Further important evidence in support of the con- 

 clusion that birds possess a special sense of direction, is 

 afforded by the extensive migrations performed by the 

 flightless Penguins. Sir J. C. Ross^ informs us that he 

 observed, in lat. 49' 17' S., long. 172'' 28' W., penguins in 

 great abundance going eastwards, which, he tells us, 

 were no doubt proceeding to their breeding quarters, 

 perhaps the Nimrod Islands. "It is a wonderful 

 instinct," he remarks, " far beyond the powers of un- 



^ A Voyage of Discovery ami Research in tlie Southern and Antarctic 

 Regions^ during the years 1S39-1843, vol. ii., p. 138. 



