58 THE MIGRATION OP BIRDS 



The duck was a domesticated bird, but the 

 incident is not without interest ; the homing 

 faculty was clearly exhibited, but it was not in- 

 fallible ; the bird made a mistake. So, inex- 

 perienced young birds, travelling instinctively by 

 orientation may, and do, make mistakes. 



Human beings, in varying degree, possess a sense 

 of direction, and some a wonderful power of finding 

 their way in strange places ; it is most marked 

 amongst those men we choose to call uncivilised, 

 who, indeed, live in closer touch with nature than 

 those of us who depend so much on compass, map, 

 road, train and tram ; we, as path-finders, are 

 degenerate. Middendorf marvelled at the powers 

 of the Samoyeds, but when he questioned them was 

 met by blank surprise, and the cross- question 

 " How does the little Arctic fox find its way aright 

 on the great Tundra ? " 



In addition to this instinctive power, the bird 

 has eyes and brain. We can afford to put aside as 

 purely speculative Middendorfs suggestion that 

 the bird is impelled or dragged by magnetic force, 

 but we cannot deny that it uses its eyes and that 

 it has a wonderful memory ; its second journey 

 will be easier than the first, for it will recognise 

 landmarks, just as the drake recognised something 

 familiar when it neared home. Sight, however, 

 cannot be always necessary, for, at the Kentish 



