THE HOMING INsTrxer.
Birds differ in their manner of flight—in spite of the general likeness of one wing to another—almost as a monoplane from an airship. The gulls use the wings as a plane and are experts in floating up or onward on any draught they can find. The short-winged ducks with their steely muscles will bore through a fronting gale, show little weariness, and maintain a mar- vellous turn of speed. Sometimes on migration great flocks of birds will skim the surface of the sea ; sometimes they will fly at great, though not fantastic heights. The wind makes less difference than is often thought. The martin and the cuckoo, as we have seen in England this spring, come pat to the appropriate date without respect to the nature of the weather or the direction of the wind. We have now a number of authentic instances of swallows coming from Africa to nest in the eaves of the very barn the same birds knew in previcus years. They have local affections, and accurate memories distinct from blinder instincts or external causes.
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