202 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 



another known feature catches his eye, and thus by ever 

 narrowing stages he is guided home. Few persons have 

 any idea of the distance one can see at great elevations. 

 More than once I have stood on the Rocky Mountains, 

 where, had I been a pigeon, I could have steered my flight 

 by another mountain more than one hundred miles dis- 

 tant. Balloonists say that at the height of half a mile 

 the whole course of the Thames or the Seine, from end to 

 end, is spread out as plain as a map beneath their eyes. 

 There is no doubt that a pigeon may rise to where he can 

 recognize, in clear weather, a landscape one hundred and 

 fifty miles away ; it has been done repeatedly, though only 

 by the best birds, specially trained for that particular line 

 of flight. There is no greater error than to suppose that 

 carrier-pigeons sent a long distance from home in any di- 

 rection will always return, as though attracted by a load- 

 stone. The benevolent lady received only a good-natured 

 laugh for her pains, when she offered to equip the late 

 British Arctic expedition with these winged messengers, 

 who, she supposed, could be despatched from any point 

 with tidings, and have a fair chance of getting straight 

 back to England. 



A pigeon's power of memory is really wonderful. Be- 

 ginning with short stages, perhaps of not more than a 



