C. F. AMERY. i6l 



THE HOMING FACULTY IN BIRDS AND OTHER 



ANIMALS. 



BY C. F. AMERY. 



Since the progress of comparative physiology has taught 

 us that the lower animals are endowed with a like nervous 

 organization with ourselves, that they are in fact fellow- 

 creatures on lower planes of development ; and since more 

 careful observation confirms the natural inference that they 

 are animated with kindred desires and emotions, and in 

 varying degrees with like instincts, intuitions, and capacity 

 of profiting by observation and experience, it is no longer 

 the fashion to regard them as mere living automata. There 

 are, nevertheless, some achievements of the lower animals 

 ■which are not easily explained by the assumption of mental 

 faculties akin to our own, and chief, perhaps, among these is 

 the homing faculty common to so many animals, and so 

 admirably exemplified in the carrier-pigeon which returns 

 from long distances to its home under conditions which 

 would render the feat impossible for man unless he made a 

 close study of the mariner's compass over the whole route. 



Now ascribing to the carrier-pigeon and other similarly 

 endowed creatures the faculties of instinct, intuition, and 

 intelligence, and recognizing that all these aid them in ad- 

 justing themselves to the conditions of their environment, 

 the question arises, To which of these faculties is the 

 capacity due ? I conceive that it is a purely intelligent act 

 calling for observation, reflection, and calculation ; but to 

 render this conclusion acceptable, it will first be necessary 



