WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



foundation there may have been in the wild brute, 

 it has been fostered under civilizing influences, 

 until it has developed to an astonishing degree. 

 I would like to ask any one who believes that this 

 ability is wholly a matter of intuition an innate 

 faculty why such an instinct should have been 

 planted in the breast of animals like dogs and horses 

 in their wild condition? They had no homes to 

 which they could become attached as they do now 

 in their artificial life; or when they did settle dur- 

 ing the breeding season in any one spot, either 

 they did not quit it at all, wandered only for a short 

 distance, or else the females alone remained sta- 

 tionary, while the males roved as widely as usual. 

 There would seem to be no call, therefore, for such 

 an instinct in the wild animal. That they may 

 always have had, and do now possess, a very acute 

 sense of direction, enabling them to keep the points 

 of the compass straight in their minds far better 

 than we can, I am willing to admit; but I doubt 

 whether the evidence proves a nearer approach to 

 a homing "instinct" than this. On the contrary, 

 I believe, as I have already hinted, that beyond 

 this the performances of animals in the line of our 

 inquiry are the result of accurate observation and 

 very retentive memory. That all these animals 



236 



