170 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



the great dome of the Museum by night, finally 

 flying away to be seen no more in such numbers 

 till next year. These birds, many of them any- 

 way, must remember from one year to another 

 this annual assembly here by the big waters, else 

 why would they come together at this particular 

 spot from all over the country ? I have no doubt 

 that some of them, having sojourned here year 

 after year for some time, remember well the great 

 ugly building where they meet, and are more or 

 less familiar with the surrounding locality from 

 having searched it so often. I wonder what led 

 to the establishing of the custom in the first place. 

 Customs do not fall from the skies. And what 

 advantage is there in the practice? What are 

 they up to as they chirp and wheel in the air, and 

 flutter up the slopes and sail down again, and 

 perch on the pinnacles and twitter ? Maybe it is 

 a sort of Saratoga for them, where they all come 

 together ostensibly to dip their bills in the blue 

 waves, but where sons swell in their new feathers, 

 and sly mammas find prospects for unmarketable 

 misses. 



A parrot has been known to remember the voice 

 of its mistress after an absence of a year and a 

 half — a very remarkable feat even for the grey 

 matter of a bird. A flock of geese mentioned by 

 Romanes showed their knowledge of the arrival 

 of market-day, which came every two weeks, by 

 assembling regularly on such days, early in the 

 morning, in front of the town inn where the 

 market was held, to pick up the corn. They never 



