n8 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



pigeons of a Mr. Mills in Brussels in February 

 1879. On 8th August 1880 one of these birds 

 was set at liberty, and on the morning of nth 

 August it was back in its loft in Brussels, a distance 

 of four hundred miles. This pigeon was a hen bird 

 three years old. 



While training seems to be nearly always necessary, 

 and the above cases are rather exceptional, they still 

 indicate the direction in which the origin of the 

 homing power is to be sought. It is instinct modified 

 by domestication. It occasionally survives in full force 

 even in so long domesticated a species as the pigeon ; 

 but as a rule it is only the capacity for training which 

 is transmitted. Incidentally it should be noticed 

 that this acquired, or regained, faculty is transmitted ; 

 for whereas sixty years ago twenty-five miles was 

 considered a creditable flight, the birds are now easily 

 trained up to one hundred miles in their first season. 



A third class of examples comprises the instances of 

 the homing faculty in man. The instances have for a 

 general feature the fact that this faculty is most deve- 

 loped in the least " reasoning " races, and seems, if not 

 purely instinctive, to proceed from intuition to action, 

 without any intervening process of reason or debate. 



One instance shows clearly how common reason- 

 ing kills the faculty. We quote Mr. Stillman's 

 account of his early experiences in the forest of the 

 Adirondacks, where by much solitary adventure he 

 had gained the homing faculty without reference to 

 landmarks. 



" I had set out with my skiff to explore the 

 course of a stream which meandered through a forest 



