368 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:8— Nov., 1915 



at the first opportunity. It is perhaps one of his composite stories. 

 That is, he may have combined facts about several different birds 

 into this narrative; but he assures me that the story is entirely 

 free from exaggeration or romance. 



We all know of many instances of puppies and kittens that, 

 having been put into grain bags or darkened baskets, placed in a 

 vehicle, hauled far away on some country road, and carefully put 

 down near a farmhouse, have turned up at home within a day or 

 two, safe and sound, except perhaps somehwat tired and bedraggled. 

 In other cases, a puppy or a kitten has been thrown in a river and 

 left to its fate, the miscreant who dumped him having fled from 

 the unwelcome sight of the drowning. Probably when the boy 

 reached home he found the puppy or the kitten, wet and dis- 

 reputable, pawing at the kitchen door, and crying for admission. 



How do these creatures find their way back, over hills and long 

 roads or paths, or over brush lands that are utterly unknown to 

 them? By sight? No. By scent? No. By instinct? Well, 

 call it instinct if you like, but it is something more than that. 



Many a time a pack -of hounds have run a fox two or three days 

 and nights. Finally he has gone into a hole in the ground, or a 

 crevice in the rocks, where they were unable to follow. They may 

 have been perhaps 30 miles from home by this time, but every one 

 of them has returned to his own home. In some instances the dogs 

 have been worn to a shadow, foot-sore and weary and half starved; 

 but they have all turned up at home. Instances of this kind are 

 so common that there can be no question as to their genuineness. 

 How did the dogs find their way back? Did they watch all the 

 turns and the doubles they made in following the fox away from 

 home? Did they mark every tree and every rock they passed in 

 the chase, so that they could find their way back? Did they smell 

 of the various objects they passed on the run ? Did they use the 

 moon or the stars as a guide in finding their way home? No, for 

 in many cases these were obscured by clouds day and night. 

 Perhaps much of the run was made in the rain, which woiild wash 

 away the scent of their own feet and those of the fox. 



Could the dogs stick their noses up in the air and get a whiff of 

 the familiar odor of their own home kitchen? Or smoke-house? 

 Or bam? Possibly, if the wind happened to be right, even though 

 the home was miles away. But suppose the wind was blowing 

 toward home instead of from it. Then how? 



