236 FACT AGAINST FICTION, 



sending them in a hamper by night, but before 

 many days were over they had retm^ned to me 

 again. Very many instances I could enumerate 

 of this fact that had come immediately under my 

 ]Dersonal sujoervision ; but having told of them in 

 1113^ former publication, ^ The Reminiscences of 

 a Huntsman,' and other works, I abstain from the 

 repetition of them to readers already acquainted 

 with the subject. 



This knowledge of the way home I define as 

 mere instinct. Reason would have suggested land- 

 marks and roads, the things which guide the less- 

 gifted human being. The dog and the bird trust 

 to the inherent directions of mysterious Nature. 

 Neither map, sign-post, nor compass, is requii'ed 

 by the dog; he trots or swims direct for home, 

 and seldom finds himself at any loss. 



Instinct and reason are so closely allied that 

 Solomon himself, supposed among the ancient 

 ignorant to be so wise, could not define a line of 

 demarcation between the two as regards an Irish 

 dog, to which I now immediately refer. I close this 

 chapter with two more notices of dog and bird. 



The horses belonging to a gentleman from 

 Wales, who intended to finish the hunting season 



