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=Carrier-Pigeons.=--The speed of carrier-pigeons appears to depend
as much on the clearness of their sight as on the strength of their
wings. In an experiment recently made with some Berlin pigeons, on a
clear day, a distance of over three hundred miles, from Cologne to
Berlin, was accomplished in five hours and a half, or at the rate of
nearly sixty miles an hour; while the most expeditious of a group let
loose the next day--a day not of the same kind--took twelve hours to
reach Berlin. Hence it would appear that in the latter case a good deal
of the pigeons' time was taken up in exploring the country for
landmarks. It is not by instinct, but by sight, that the carrier-pigeon
guides its course.