THE HOMING FACULTY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 April 1923, Page 2

THE HOMING FACULTY.

—* . HA.YE ANIMALS A SENSE OF DIRECTION? PIGEON'S INSTINCT DUE TO TRAINING. There are many lovers of wild life, and naturalists, too, who readily—perhaps too readily—read into the actions and behaviour of inferior creature* mental operations which are by otherg regarded as purely human attributes. On the other hand, says the Observer, same naturalists, jealous of the prestige of our race, draw « very sharp line between man and what they are pleased to term the mere animal. There is one powerful emotion, however, which is almost as strong in the quadruped and bird as in man, and that is the attachment to one's native place. As regards ourselves, we call it love of home and country. It is admittedly a beautiful trait in the human character, and it is somewhat puzzling that anyone should object when we read the same fine spirit in the breast of a swallow which flic» 5000 miles to the old barn where it was born. Why argue that one is love and the other necessity ? Both are loving, both are necesary, and both are evidence if any is needed, of our kinship to the brute creation. There have been one or two instances, reported lately in the press, of cats having found their way back home after being taken long distances away. Obviously the motive is love of home. But what is the ;method ? Is the wayfinding sheer luck, or are they endowed with a sense of direction, a sort of sixth sense of which we have no comprehension? If a man, even in" a place which, is familiar to him, be blindfolded and twisted round a few times, he loses at once all sense of orientation. If he is lost in a strange place he must rely on enquiries to others or on maps , and familiar landmarks; failing these h.« falls back on his intelligence and knowledge, and makes use of the sun by day and. the stars by night. Many people deny a sense of direction to animals on the ground that it ia not possessed by human beings. This ia not a very safe position to assume, for have not philosophy and religion preached, and science proved in many severe lessons, the fallacy of denying a thing because we do not understand it? Although the existence of. a sense of direction may he, and is, disputed, tho | existence of the homing instinct must be acknowledged. It is the great incentive which prompts the lost cat to turn its face homewards. It is true that some of the narrators of _ the stories might break down in a stiff cross-examination, but there is still ample evidence left that cats do often return home. The fa~t that so few return out of the hosts lost is because pussy has so m-any engaging ways, and very soon some pitying soul* take compassion.

A lost dog ii rather differently ruled. He seeks his master rather than hit „ home. The dog is by nature greganoua, and the herding instinct is closely al- ' lied to the homing instinct, except that, in the caso of the dog, the lore of home is more the love of a leader, and wherever the home of his master may be there also is the horn* of the dog. The homing instinct is not a matter of intellect. It is as strong in primitive races as in. the highly civilised; the negro, the Chinaman,- and the European, have it all in common. Pre- . historio man in neolithic times un-1 doubtedly loved his cave, and came ; home at sundown to hit wife and: family. Many moons have waxed and ' waned since then. Human tastes have ; strangely altered, but not the love of home. Tho old instinct still lives on, and the modern man comes home at night for rest and shelter. Lost horses sometimes return to their stables, probably by a remembrance of ;. the streets and lanes they so often j traverse. j Strayed cattle and sheep also often turn up without guidance. This is rather curious when we reflect that they were born in captivity, are cooped within limited bounds all their lives, . and have no experience of a free and independent life. Their homing instinct, however, i* not quite atrophied. Some glimmering of it awakes when they are lost, and by some means they occasionally make their way back to well-known pastures and safety. There are, of course, many objection* to the theory of a sense of direction. -. it. uoes a carrier pigeon even on a known route become lost in a fog, and why does a lost cat or dog often take -■: weeks to cover the journey of a day ef two? j A sense of direction ought not to be baffled in either case. The lost scent theory might explain the difficultie* of the quadrupeds, for we" know that in. them the sense of smell is very wonderfully developed, and might guide them home over short distances and thus obviate the invention of a sense of direction, i i---j"i It would not, however, account for' the lost pigeon's dilemma; a bird's olfactory nerves are very poor. A homing pigeon's performances are due mainly to training, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that fog would interfere with it, and thus again the sense of direction is brushed aside. J Wo have not, however, disposed of it. j The wayfinHing of the untrained i migrating wild birds ii still to be explained, and who shall . explain that | without postulating a special sense? '