ON THE HABITS OP ANIMALS. 131 



space in that park, not moving about or seeking 

 for food, but appearing as if they had met 

 together to consult on some important subject. 

 What their object was I never could even guess 

 at ; and it must be some extraordinary instinct 

 which brings them thus together, especially as 

 no heronry has so many of these birds belong- 

 ing to it, so that the assembly must consist of 

 several heronries. 



It is an interesting fact, that instinct leads 

 migratory animals in general to pursue one in- 

 variable direction in their passage from one 

 distant country to another. They have neither 

 compass nor guide, and yet they rarely deviate 

 to any great extent in their journey. Moun- 

 tains and wide seas intervene, and yet young 

 and old find their way. Inscrutable as this 

 instinct may appear to our dull perceptions, it 

 is implanted in His creatures by a wise and 

 good God, who leads even the little, feeble 

 insect-hunting birds to go remote distances from 

 their homes to seek for that food which they 

 require. Indeed, their rapid flight proves that 

 they have a conscious security of finding it. A 

 lady told me, that while cruising in her husband's 

 yacht in the wide seas of South America, she 



