The Homing Instinct 171 



is governed entirely by sight. Lieut. -Colonel Osman, 

 who conducted the pigeon section throughout the war, 

 and whose experience is such, that his opinion can be 

 received with respect, informed me that such is the case. 

 This is also confirmed by the fact that these birds cannot 

 fly at night, and although their roosting instincts might, 

 to a certain extent, account for this, still, they are also 

 unable to find their way in mist in the daytime, which would 

 also seem to show that they are entirely influenced by sight. 

 On the other hand, there are certain kinds of birds, which 

 choose the night-time for their flight — such as the quail. 

 One authority believes that swallows always start against 

 the south wind, and that they associate direction with 

 the soft, moist breath of this wind. One would certainly 

 conclude that, with the birds at all events, the homing cause, 

 in the first instance, is the prompting due to climatic 

 conditions, causing a desire to migrate to countries where 

 a greater degree of warmth may be experienced, and also 

 a better food-supply. As to the secondary causes, whereby 

 they are enabled to cross trackless oceans, it certainly 

 seems probable that they are assisted and influenced by 

 light, wind, and by observation of many objects to which 

 they attach some meaning, and to which man has not the 

 clue. 



But, granting all this, the whole question is not entirely 

 answered, and especially is this so in the case of the homing 

 instinct in dogs. 



Mr. Romanes himself gives an instance of a lady staying 

 at an hotel at Mentone, taking a fancy to a dog belonging 

 to the proprietor, and carrying it with her by rail to 

 Vienna. Not long afterwards it appeared at the hotel at 

 Mentone, having thus run a distance of nearly a thousand 

 miles. A scientific friend of mine describes to me, how his 



