4 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 



out the first day, but two of the Noddies returned 

 in safety to Bird Key. On 4th June eleven birds 

 were liberated in Galveston Harbor; on gth June 

 one of the observers, returning to Bird Key on 

 the steamer, saw one of his terns (a red-marked 

 Sooty) resting upon a piece of driftwood in the 

 open sea about 409 statute miles east of Galveston. 

 A heavy storm unfortunately removed all chance of 

 its successful return. 



The authors are not prepared to offer any solution 

 of the problem of distant orientation in birds, but 

 they have made a distinct step in proving that un- 

 trained birds can return successfully across* the 

 apparently trackless sea from a distance of 800 to 

 looo miles. Dr. Lashley has shown that for short 

 distances on the island itself the terms adjust them- 

 selves to nest and mate and young on a basis largely 

 of visual experience, helped a little by memory of 

 movements, and sometimes by sounds. There is 

 no whit of evidence of any unusual sensitiveness 

 nor of the functioning of any hypothetical sense- 

 organ. 



But what can be said in regard to distant orien- 

 tation? (i) It has been suggested that the Cape 

 Hatteras birds followed the coast-line in the direction 

 of greater warmth. This is possible enough, but it 

 does not bear at all upon the flight from Galveston 

 to Bird Key across the Gulf of Mexico. (2) It has 

 been suggested that the Galveston birds followed 

 a well-marked water-current which sweeps around 

 the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, 



