Years ago when trying hard not to wake my wife I was disturbed in the
pitch black of night by a big fly ( a blowfly we call it here but just
the common big fly) buzzing around in the same pitch black of night.
We lived in the country so there was no other sound at all. It was
loud and annoying relative to the quiet of the night. I could take it
no longer so I got up out of bed and after turning on the light and
spotting her, chased her out of the room after opening the door, then
after seeing her fly down the passage/hall I slammed the door shut
again. Only one minute later there was another blowfly buzzing around
the room  in the same loud and annoying way. I again got up and
repeated procedure above with the only difference being I used a
rolled up newspaper to swing through the air before again putting
blowfly back into passage and again closing  bedroom door.  Again I
went to sleep or tried to. Another three or four minutes goes by
before it happens again for the third time. I start to get suspicious
and convinced all was not as it seemed. At this point I am thinking
that there was not three blowflies at all as it appeared but one who
somehow gets back into room after I shut door. I could  not see how
she could possibly do it however. This time I decided to again chase
fly out but then sit quietly in my underpants and see and hear what
happens after I shut the door.
 To my complete surprise I found that this blowfly was smart enough to
work out that all she had to do to get back inside was drop down to
the floor and crawl through the slighest of spaces between door and
floor before rising again to fly around dark room. All in virtual
complete darkness. Why it was important to her to get back into my
bedroom I dont know, and how she had the power of reason to work out
that it was a feasible means to get back in room is also beyond me.  I
did it  once again just for my owm amusement with exactly the same
result,noting that from inside the bedroom she walked almost a metre
from the door before she alighted into the air and from the hallway I
saw that she did the same thing, dropping to the floor well in front
of door and walking a distance before she got to door. I was so
impressed with a new respect for the common blowfly that I would not
be surprised to hear that someone had the same experience only that
the fly had the courtesy to knock on the door first.

 However for this question I am wondering if there is any qualitative
info that suggests that the blowfly is blessed with some
intelligence/power of reason above what most of us think or is there
any famous stories on similar type  displays of logic and rationale
shown by the common blowfly.

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Clarification of Question by johnfrommelbourne-ga on 29 Feb 2004 05:25 PST

On the third  and later occasion obviously I left light on both in the
bedroom and in the hallway; which I ommitted to say I'm sorry.

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Clarification of Question by johnfrommelbourne-ga on 29 Feb 2004 05:30 PST

Second clarification: readers will note that I assumed blowfly was
female, hence "she" when referring to this blowfly. This is because
clearly this particular blowfly was pocessed with superior
intelligence ans sense of reasoning relative to most other blowflies
so naturally one could assume fly was female rather than male.

On the internet, nobody knows you're a blowfly.

pafalafly-ga

I go along with the idea that it was a 'she' ....

M guess is that she was fascinated by the sight of an Australian hunk
in his underpants.

And the reason that she kept buzzing was because she was so happy.

(Can you imagine what Mel Gibson has to put up with?)

Perhaps it is similar to the case of the butterfly, whose name
is a reversal of its true nature, and should obviously be
'flutterby'.

It seems that the nature of the blowfly is to 'flowby' any
obstacles it encounters...  :)

But seriously, I would suspect that it had to do with the 
scent coming through the crack at the bottom of the door.
I would bet there was a slight but constant breeze blowing
from the room into the hallway, and the fly was attracted
by the scent of humans (or some other interesting odor)
coming from the room, and Ms blowfly was simply acting on
instinct to follow the attractive scents that brought her
to the room in the first place.

Thus, she may have appeared adamant but was only evefly.

Very insightful, Sublime One (as usual)

What perfume do you use, John of Melbourne?

Maybe a change is indicated ...

Have you tried L'Air Du Temps?

I think you have got it in one prob...
 I am, or was, an Australian hunk in my younger days so your reasoning
makes perfect sense.

 John From Melbourne