never, it is said, to
be regained.

Apart from a liberal education and the miscellaneous knowledge he had
picked up for himself, to say nothing of a wonderful series of clever
tricks, the instinct known as the sense of direction was in his case
developed to an altogether abnormal extent. Definite traces of this were
noticeable when he was still a puppy; but it was at all times impossible
for him to lose his way. As he grew older, this instinct became so
marked, that it set others wondering whether or not there existed among
dogs a sixth, and perhaps a seventh, sense, lying far beyond the grasp of
human, limited intelligence.

Dogs, as we all know, are not the only animals, that possess this
mysterious instinct. They share it with many other classes, such as those
of the feline tribe, and also with the birds and a number of insects. In
fact, all animals appear to possess it in varying degree; they are all
more or less able to find their way home. Yet, study it how we may, we
are at fault when we try to account for it. In many cases, the homing
instinct is apparently governed by sight; but many scientific observers
entertain the idea that the sense of smell, in the majority of instances,
will be found to lie at the root of the matter. Possibly they are right.

When, however, we are brought face to face with an exceptional exhibition
of the sense, we have to confess that we are left unconvinced by any of
the theories that have at present been advanced. It is no unusual thing
for a dog to find its way home along a road it had not previously
travelled, going with the wind, and in the dark. One case is known to the
writer where a dog found the ship it had come out in in a foreign port to
which it had been taken, and made a voyage by sea, as well as a
considerable journey by land on its return to this country, in order to
reach its home. A cat also, within the writer's knowledge, found its way
back to its home, though it had been brought some distance in a sack
lying at the bottom of a farmer's gig, and though the return journey
entailed traversing the streets of a busy town. Any one may test a bee's
powers in the same way, by affixing to it a small particle of
cotton-wool. When liberated, it will take a perfectly straight or bee
line to its hive, though this lie at a considerable distance. It is
unnecessary to refer to the achievements of carrier-pigeons, when set
free after a long journey and the lapse of many hours, or t