THE HOMING INSTINCT 217 



tion, the young often leave the land of their birth 

 before the adults do. A converse case of juvenile 

 independence is that of the common Cuckoo, the 

 old birds leaving us in July, while the young remain 

 till the general southward movement of migrants 

 in September, long after all old Cuckoos have 

 left us. 



That many birds have some method of correctly 

 directing their course without the aid of sight is 

 shown not only by the night-flights of many, but 

 by the return of Penguins to their breeding-grounds-, 

 unable as they necessarily are to take a wide survey, 

 owing to their flightlessness ; by the return of 

 Noddy and Sooty Terns to their breeding-places 

 in the Southern United States after they had been 

 taken away and released hundreds of miles north of 

 their range, and by at least two instances of flying 

 birds taking the correct direction on foot when 

 deprived of the power of flight, that of a Canada 

 Goose recorded by Audubon, and of an Upland 

 Goose cited by Mr. Hudson though in the latter 

 case it must be admitted that the bird's full-winged 

 mate was with it. These cases are, however, par- 

 ticularly interesting in that in the former the bird's 

 spring destination was north, and in the latter 

 south. In England, also, a cock Reeves's Pheasant, 

 released thirty miles away from home, was found 

 next day perched on the aviary in which he had 

 been bred. 



There is undoubtedly a great deal of more or 

 less random movement, especially in young birds ; 



