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 eii 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 w'ay to the hive easily. 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- 



