observer of supreme intelligence, one who, though surpassed by others
in the knowledge of the stuffed animal under a glass case, is almost
unrivalled in his knowledge of the live animal in its wild state,
Toussenel (Alphonse Toussenel (1803-1885), the author of a number of
interesting and valuable works on ornithology.--Translator's Note.),
the admirable writer of "L'Esprit des betes", speaks of sight and
meteorology as the Carrier-pigeon's guides:

'The French bird,' he says, 'knows by experience that the cold weather
comes from the north, the hot from the south, the dry from the east
and the wet from the west. That is enough meteorological knowledge to
tell him the cardinal points and to direct his flight. The Pigeon
taken in a closed basket from Brussels to Toulouse has certainly no
means of reading the map of the route with his eyes; but no one can
prevent him from feeling, by the warmth of the atmosphere, that he is
pursuing the road to the south. When restored to liberty at Toulouse,
he already knows that the direction which he must follow to regain his
Dove-cot is the direction of the north. Therefore he wings straight in
that direction and does not stop until he nears those latitudes where
the mean temperature is that of the zone which he inhabits. If he does
not find his home at the first onset, it is because he has borne a
little too much to the right or to the left. In any case, it takes him
but a few hours' search in an easterly or westerly direction to
correct his mistake.'

The explanation is a tempting one when the journey is taken north and
south; but it does not apply to a journey east and west, on the same
isothermal line. Besides, it has this defect, that it does not admit
of generalization. One cannot talk of sight and still less of the
influence of a change of climate when a Cat returns home, from one end