4 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 
out the first day, but two of the Noddies returned 
in safety to Bird Key. On 4th June eleven birds 
were liberated in Galveston Harbor; on oth June 
one of the observers, returning to Bird Key on 
the steamer, saw one of his terns (a red-marked 
Sooty) resting upon a piece of driftwood in the 
open sea about 409 statute miles east of Galveston. 
A heavy storm unfortunately removed all chance of 
its successful return. 
The authors are not prepared to offer any solution 
of the problem of distant orientation in birds, but 
they have made a distinct step in proving that un- 
trained birds can return successfully across the 
apparently trackless sea from a distance of 800 to 
1000 miles. Dr. Lashley has shown that for short 
distances on the island itself the terms adjust them- 
selves to nest and mate and young on a basis largely 
of visual experience, helped a little by memory of 
movements, and sometimes by sounds. There is 
no whit of evidence of any unusual sensitiveness 
nor of the functioning of any hypothetical sense- 
organ. 
But what can be said in regard to distant orien- 
tation? (1) It has been suggested that the Cape 
Hatteras birds followed the coast-line in the direction 
of greater warmth. This is possible enough, but it 
does not bear at all upon the flight from Galveston 
to Bird Key across the Gulf of Mexico. (2) It has 
been suggested that the Galveston birds followed 
a, well-marked water-current which sweeps around 
the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, 
