CARRIER-HGEONS 323 



"If the swallow is able to find its nest again upon 

 returning in the spring from the land of the negroes, 

 still more will it be able to find it after being re- 

 moved merely from its native canton to the neigh- 

 boring one. 



"A mother sitting on her eggs or feeding her 

 young is taken, let us suppose, put into a basket, and 

 carried quickly to a spot twenty or thirty leagues 

 distant, where she is set free again. The surround- 

 ing country is unfamiliar to her : she has never been 

 there before. Of the road over which she has just 

 come she has not the slightest knowledge, having 

 traveled it in the darkness of a closed basket. No 

 matter. "With only a moment's hesitation she gets 

 her bearings amid these strange scenes and takes 

 flight toward her nest as unerringly as if it were 

 possible to see the very roof under which repose her 

 little ones. In a few hours we shall find her back 

 again on her nest. 



"A like behavior under similar conditions might 

 be witnessed in the case of divers other birds noted 

 for strength of wing and power of sustained flight. 

 They would return to their domicile in spite of the 

 distance to be traversed and the unfamiliarity of 

 the intervening country. Maternal love can accom- 

 plish wonders. In order to save her eggs from a 

 chill or her little ones from starving in her absence, 

 the mother-bird exercises a geographical skill as 

 marvelous as that displayed at the period of migra- 

 tion." 



"I have heard it said," remarked Louis, "that the 



