NATURE’S UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19032, 9 June 1924, Page 12

NATURE’S UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.

ANIMALS WITH MORE SENSE THAN MAN! Most of us (says a London paper) remember that the disaster which befell the Canadian liner Empress of Ireland —how she was wercked in collision in the St. Lawrence River. When the vessel was about to leave Quebec on what proved to be her last voyage, the ship 's cat came hurrying down the gangway, carrying her kitten in her mouth. Efforts were made to get her to return, but although up to that time she had never left the vessel, even when in port, nothing would persuade hed to go back. She was allowed to take up her quarters in a shed, and consequently escaped with her life. “Just coincidence!” says the sceptic. Perhaps it was, yet it is by no means the only incident of a similar kind which might be related, and, in any case, the fact that animals have certain senses that we do not possess is beyond doubt. THE CUCKOO’S LONG FLIGHT. What man would venture across an ocean or even out of sight of land without compass? Yet a cuckoo five months old finds its way from Britain to mid-Africa without a guide. Fish find their way through the uncharted depths of the sea. Herrings come down the East Coast year after year along exactly the same route, and cod mi-

grate in similar fashion. Then look at the salmon which are spawned in a certain river and at two years of age go down to the sea. Such a salmon may spend two or three years in salt water far from the mouth of its native river, yet when the time comes for it to breed, with infallible instinct it returns to the same river and forces its way for hundreds of even thousands of miles up-stream. FORECASTERS OF FLOODS. Man spends millions of pounds every year in attempts—mostly very poor attempts —to forecast the weather. Yet many wild creatures have a perfect knowledge of weather conditions not merely for a few hours ahead, but for days or even weeks. The dabehiek, which builds its floating nest at the river’s edge, is never caught by flood. The bird appears to know beforehand just how high the river will rise during the nesting period. On a cloudless day red ants have been seen to come out of their nests, carrying their eggs, and migrate to higher ground. Forty-eight hours later rain flooded the old nests, but the wise ants were sa'fe from the floods.

Trout stop feeding many hours before rain, often before the barometer shows any indication of a coming storm. Their perfect instinct in this respect has been known to generations of anglers. INSECT’S STRANGE INSTINCT. Speaking of insects, here is a case which proves beyond doubt that bees have a degree of "knowledge which is not possessed by man. A liner, the Tintagel Castle, left Capetown some years ago on her way to England, and when well out sea it was found that a swarm of bees had hidden in the cargo. These rose and settled on a ventilator, and one of the handy men fixed up a rough hive in which the swarm took up their abode. A week later, early one mprning, the swarm left the hive, rose into the air, and winged their way to the east. At the time the ship was passing the Cape Verde Islands, but thee?- were not within sight when the bees left the ship. Yet in some mysterious way the insects knew that land was within flying distance and they made for it unerringly across miles of salt water.