between Man and all other Animals. 133 



night, enabled to soar for even thousands of miles, over seas 

 and continents, surmounting every obstacle, even lofty moun- 

 tain ridges, in its course, impelled always in one unvarying 

 direction, till it arrives at the proper winter quarters of its 

 species ; but, at the ensuing season, is also led back to its 

 former abode, to the precise locality that it had previously 

 set out from, having been known even to return to confine- 

 ment. I conceive it unnecessary to detail observed instances 

 of this astonishing fact, because, in the feathered race, it is 

 well known to every student of natural history. It will be 

 enough to mention, that I have an instance, on indisputable 

 authority, of a lame redstart returning regularly for sixteen 

 summers to the same garden. 



Among mammalians, numerous instances have been re- 

 corded, resting on unexceptionable testimony, of animals 

 returning straight to their accustomed haunts, over pastures 

 and across streams they could not possibly have ever tra- 

 versed before, and by a nearer and very different route from 

 that by which they had been driven or carried. To these I 

 will add the following, which occurred to the personal know- 

 ledge of my informant. A cat, from the centre of an intricate 

 and populous seaport town*, was shipped on board of a 

 vessel bound for the Brazils ; and, after performing the 

 voyage to and fro, contrived to escape, on returning to its 

 native port, and found its way, through several streets, to its 

 former domicile. 



Mr. Jesse, in the third series of his Gleanings, has related 

 a like anecdote of a reptile. Of a number of turtles, cap- 

 tured on Ascension Island, chanced to be an individual which, 

 to use the technical phrase, had lost one of its ,fins. It was 

 marked in the ordinary manner on the under shell, which 

 marks are well known to be indelible. The vessel, on ar- 

 riving in the Channel, was long detained by contrary winds, 

 during which time a great mortality took place among the 

 turtles; these dying one after another so fast, that it was 

 at length resolved to cast what few remained of them, includ- 

 ing the lame one, into the sea, to give them, as was said, a 

 chance for their lives. Three years afterwards, this same 

 turtle, with its three fins, and the marks of the hot iron 

 beneath, was found again upon Ascension Island. 



It is sufficient to refer to the results of numerous experi- 

 ments which have been instituted on the fry of the Sal- 

 monidae, to be convinced of the prevalence of the same sur- 

 prising impulse also among fishes. 



* St. Helier's, Jcreov. 

 l 3 



