C. F AMERY. 165 
were the case, the dog, which equally has the homing 
faculty, could go straight for his game after being thrown 
off the scent. Such a power, too, is scientifically inconceiv- 
able. What I mean is, that in spite of confinement, the 
bird on its outward course must have had a continuous 
sense-impression of the direction taken, and of the variations 
in the course if there were any. Such variations when they 
are frequent, and extending over a long course, must tax 
the bird’s mental powers severely. Darwin’s experiments 
with bees will be fresh in the minds of most of you. Carried 
from the hive in a paper box for some distance over a 
devious course, the bees returned easily; but when the 
consciousness of direction was confused by spinning the 
box round ¢” route, most of them failed to return, and I 
assume that the few which did, took a random flight which 
carried them fortuitously to familiar scenes, from which they 
made their way to thehiveeasily. The Carrier-pigeon with a 
general but imperfect knowledge of the direction of his cote, 
has the important advantage, that his home experiences have 
rendered him familiar with all the chief features of the 
landscape within a radius of perhaps thirty or forty miles of 
his cote, consequently if he come only within sight of the 
outer boundaries of the familiar landscape he is able to 
correct his error. The feat, performed intelligently, neces- 
sarily involves a possibility of miscalculation, as with the 
mariner. In this connection it would be of great interest, 
whenever possible, to note the direction from which the 
bird arrives at his cote. I am of opinion that the line of 
flight at the close will rarely point true to the station from 
which the bird was cast off, especially if the outward course 
were erratic, and the bird had never before been over the 
same course. There are possibly Carrier-pigeon trainers 
who can recall, by aid of local landmarks, the direction 
from which their birds arrived from long distances, and 
confirm my conclusion off-hand. 
But now comes the important question: how is the per- 
