THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 8 1 



recorded on the authority of the late Lieutenant Alderson, 

 of the Royal Engineers, who was personally acquainted 

 with the facts. An ass, the property of Captain Dundas, 

 R.N., then at Malta, was shipped on board the "Ister" 

 frigate (Captain Forrest), bound from Gibraltar for that 

 island. The vessel having struck on some sands off the 

 Point de Gat, at some distance from the shore, the ass 

 was thrown overboard to give it a chance of swimming to 

 land a poor one, for the sea was running so high that a 

 boat which left the ship was lost. A few days afterwards, 

 however, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the 

 morning, the ass presented itself for admittance and pro- 

 ceeded to the stable of Mr. Weeks, a merchant, which he 

 had formerly occupied, to the no small surprise of this 

 gentleman, who imagined that, from some accident, the 

 animal had never been shipped on board the "Ister." 



On the return of the vessel to repair, the mystery was 

 explained, and it turned out that "Valiante" (so the ass 

 was called) had not only swam safely to shore, but, without 

 guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way from 

 Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two 

 hundred miles, through a mountainous and intricate 

 country, intersected by streams, which he had never 

 traversed before, and in so short a period that he could not 

 have made one false turn. His not having been stopped 

 on the road was attributed to the circumstance of his having 

 been formerly used to whip criminals upon, which was 

 indicated to the peasants (who have a superstitious horror 

 of such asses) by the holes in his ears, to which the persons 

 flogged were tied. 



It would appear, from an observation of Professor 

 Lichenstein, that birds which feed on carrion may probably 

 resort to making circular flights, similar to the pigeon, in 

 order to discover a carcase. He remarked, when travelling 

 in South Africa, that if an animal chanced to die in the 

 very midst of the most desert wilderness, in less than half an 

 hour there was seen high in the zenith a number of minute 



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