VISION. 231 



low. During their evolutions on such occasions, 

 the dense mass which they form exhibits a beau- 

 tiful appearance as it changes its direction, now dis- 

 playing a glistening sheet of azure, when the backs 

 of the birds come simultaneously into view, and 

 anon suddenly presenting a mass of rich, deep pur- 

 ple. They then pass lower over the woods, and for 

 a moment are lost in the foliage, but again emerge 

 and are seen gliding aloft." 



The return of the carrier pigeon from such dis- 

 tances to its home is, we think, most plausibly ac- 

 counted for by its flying in circles ; but that there 

 may be some other manner in which it is directed, 

 is not improbable from what takes place among 

 quadrupeds. Instances, for example, are not un- 

 common of cats having returned of their own ac- 

 cord to the place from which they have been car- 

 ried, though at the distance of many miles, and even 

 across rivers, where they could not possibly have 

 had any knowledge either of 'the road or of the direc- 

 tion that would lead them to it. " The nature of 

 this beast," says Gesner, " is to love the place of 

 its breeding ; neither will she tarry in any strange 

 place, although carried far, being never willing to 

 forsake the house for the love of any man, and most 

 contrary to the nature of a dog, who will travel 

 abroad with his master : but although their masters 

 forsake their houses, yet will not these beasts (cats) 

 bear them company; and, being carried forth in close 

 baskets or sacks, they will return again."* We have 

 thus known a cat to travel from London to Chat- 

 ham in Kent, a distance of thirty miles ; and most 

 persons can relate similar incidents. Gesner, how- 

 ever, is not correct in confining this propensity to 

 the cat, for dogs frequently do the same. D'Obson- 

 ville, in his curious work, mentions a remarkable in- 

 stance in a mastiff. This dog, which he had brought 



* History of four-footed Beasts, by Topsel, p. 82. 



