Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-01-01
Animals Returning to Their Aecus-
toned Haunts.

THE Boston TrdUeEler notes that the sin
gular facility with which certain animals
return to their accustomed abodes after
having been taken away to strange and
distant places, has always been a subject
of wonder. No philosophical reason has
ever yet been assigned for the faculty, a
power by which animals are thus enabled
to ind their way home without any guide
| other than pIre instinct, or some superior
and still more mysterious faculty. The
cat, though 1rried from home TO a great
distance by tortuous path, and so con-
cealed as to have seen nothing on the
ground over which it was taken, as not
even to know The direction Of its journey,
Will turn Its steps, IN the first moment of
its freedom, to its wonted haunts. Migra.
tory birds, after months of absence from
their native places, will return with fault
less certainty to build their nest in the
same neighbOrhOOd, and upon the same
cherished tree The means by which this
is accomplished is beyond human reason
or knowledge. The intuitive power which
it involves battles scientific Investigation.
and it has not entered into the imagina.
ton of man to conceive of the
physical or soul capacity with
which animals are thus endowed.
a late number of the Bulletin de la
lSocjete Royal Protectrtce des An5paaur,
| published at Brussels, contains some an
| ecdOtes illustrative Of this inexplicable
faculty Of animals, which are worth no.
tlclng for the benefit of American readers
| who are curious In such matters. A dog
was sent, as present to a friend, dis
! lance of twenty-five miles He was con-
| veyed in closed basket in a covered car
| rage. On the night of his arrival at his
| place Of destination the dog contrived to
make his escape, and before noon the next
day he had returned to the point of de
parture, although the route traversed a
chain of steep and rugged mountains.
| Two or three cattle disappeared one
night from a large herd that was being
| driven from the, mountains in Wales to
| the London market, and it was supposed
that they had been stolen. Five DAYS af-
terward the stray cattle appeared at the
| place in the mountains from which thew
had been driven, having travelled in re
turning to their first love, at least $50
miles. The incident is not merely a veri-
| f1cation of Scripture, that the OK knoweth
his owner as well as the ass his masters
crib, but it is complete retutation Of the
proverbial libel against the intelligence
| OF that patient and useful animal.
Crabs, it is well known, are generally
taken to market alive, being confined in
| boxes, in mass. The fishermen in Fal-
mouth, in England, are accustomed to col
lect their crabs jointly, or at least to throw
them into one mass for transportation to
market. They take care, however, tomark
the shells, by branding them with hot
| iron IN such a manner as that each one
| "a LOT 10, I,
! When thus marked they are packed in
| boxes ana conveyed to market in boats,
| some ten miles from the rocky clefts
whence they are taken. In one instance,
when boat load thus marked and packed
had reached Falmouth harbor within a
mile or two, one of the boxes was broken
and a considerable number of the impris-
oned crabs made their escape simultane-
ously, and, it would seem, by a con.
certed arrangement. Plunging into
the water, the happy fugitives
made their way home to their
native crannies, where, three days after,
ward, the fishermen found many of them,
recognizing them by the brand of slavery
| upon their backs. They had travelled ten
miles, at least on their homeward jour
| ney. 1t was necessary, in the first place.
that they should find their way from the
| boat to the entrance Of the harbor of Fal-
| mouth, from whence they directed their
| steps to the rocks of Cape Lizard But
! how they should have known whether to
| turn to the right or to the left, is the
| greatest mystery of this extraordinary
! feat How they got over the distance
| which separated them from their rocky
| habitats, is less mysterious, for they were
| probably Of the species called soldier
crabs, and accustomed, it may be, to long
| marches. 1t is not uncommon in the
West Indies, where they abound, to find
them upon foraging expeditions six o.
eight miles from the shore.
The most remarkable instance of the
mysterious and unerring faculty by which
animals, under all conceivable circum-
stances, are enabled to find their way
home through strange districts of coun-
try, and from great distances, remains to
be related. The Archduke and the Arch
duchess of A ustria spent a portion of
| last winter at Mention, where, in the hotel
in which they lodged, was black spaniel
Of remarkable beauty, and captivating
"tricks and manners" The Archduchess
became so attached to him that upon her
return to Vienna she persuaded the land
lord to allow him to accompany her
The little spaniel was soon installed in the
| ducal palace as favorite, and treated with
every mark oftenderness and consideration
that night lead him to forget his old home
| and associates. But the fascination of a
residence at court had no power over his
better nature. One day he suddenly dis
appeared, and every effort to discover his
whereabouts was unavailing. There was
| CONSERVATION and grief at Vienna, but at
Mention there was surprise and joy. The
faithful spaniel appeared in the course of
few days at his old home, covered with
dust and fainting with fatigue He had
found his way back through a country
wholly unknown to him, having travelled
a distance of about 1900 miles But the
devotion of the animal had been mani
tested at the cost of his life The priva-
tons and extraordinary eXertions of his
journey had induced disease of the
lungs, from which in a few days he died