xiv MIGRATION 373 



do not as a rule come actually with them. We seem, 

 therefore, forced to assume that there is some inborn 

 faculty — whether we call it instinct or not, matters 

 little — which guides them. The sense of direction 

 varies infinitely among men. One man, to use an 

 Americanism, is very easily "turned round," another 

 never gets confused about the points of the compass 

 and can always find his way home. Most civilized 

 races have to a great extent lost this power, but the 

 Swiss guide has it in a high degree. In savages it is 

 often developed to a wonderful extent, and in some 

 animals it is still more remarkable. A dog, when he 

 is taken far from home, though he is shut up so that 

 he cannot see where he is going, will often find his 

 way back. A Homer Pigeon is put in a basket and 

 without a chance of using his eyes is whirled along 

 in the train to some distant place. When set free, he 

 flies aloft, takes his bearings and sets off homeward. 

 I cannot understand why Professor Newton has given 

 up the opinion he had once formed, that we have in 

 the <! homing " faculty of Pigeons a hint as to the 

 power by which a migratory bird finds his way. It is 

 true, as he says, that the Pigeon depends largely upon 

 sight to find the exact spot where his home lies. But 

 those which flew from Rome to England cannot have 

 depended upon the sense of sight alone. The cir- 

 cumstances of the Pigeon and the young migrant arc 

 not the same. The former is a trained specialist and 

 finds his way to a place he is familiar with, the latter 

 is young and inexperienced and has to steer for a place 

 he has never seen. Still each depends, not on land- 

 marks, but on some inborn faculty or instinct, to teach 



