Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1898-03-31
HOMiNC INSTINCT OF BIRDS
specialist Concludes They Hayea Sixth
>elNt. hat of Orientatinn

7peciaii~f Concludes They Hayea sixth
sense. That of Orientation
Captain Remand. the Frert], sneciaI
- III chalge OF the military pigeon
service, IS a tirln believer in q sixth
sense III pigeons and other birds and
animals possessed of the ho,niur in
suhct, winch he calls the sense If
'orlentatlon. He has defended III.
'neorv AT length III q paper recently
read before the French Academic de,
/ sciences, claiming to have alnp!y
proved It by special trials Of various
Kinds tie says II the five senses art
ii8 together account tor short distance
hohlnS, sixth sense is reouired
lof long distance IN unknown places
ne says TINS organ IS situated in the
/ senl-crcular canals Of the ear N
/ Coyon and Dr. BONNER have shown
mat any lesion which affects It troubles
tue orlentlng faculty Of the patient
"helher man or animal. 4 pigeon let
ny al 400 miles from its cote takes the
pack track It has come bv the railway.
Having reached in this way the rerjon
known TO it, the bird relies on its or
binary senses, OF else continues to de-
pend on its sixth sense.
The sixth sense only acts when the
others are inactive, and not in CON
junction with them. 1t guides the
olld along the more or less sinuous
way 1t has been taken. The other
senses. especially sight. enable it TO
stflke short cut home From his
observations Captain Renaud deduces
this law: The instinct OF distant o7ien-
tatlon IS that faculty which animals
sixt!r sense is apral t'utlF lnAenfndeL>
OF the external impressions winch al /
feet the other five senses.
Here is new experiment that seems
to confirm his theory. II pigeon
does not need local knowledge to find
its way home. it is possible 70 have
travelling cote and accnstonl the blrGs
TO a wandering lie. Suppose the cote
ransplanted bodily to a strange place,
without in any way troubling the
birds. these would sill he able to find
their way back to It by the sixth sense
Captain Renaud has realized this ldea
bv mounting the cote, IN wagons
travelling all over France. The birds
know no other home. AID III localities
quite strange 10 them find thelr way
back to il. Evidently. a local know
ledge is out oi tae question. ana they
! RELY on 4 special sense
Sometimes humiug bird passes
/ over the cote without seeing II. as
though It were hrpnotlzed. aud con-
tinues till il reaches the station OF the
cote the evening before. One bird re-
traced the travelling cote from o"U-
pame to Houdaif. and then followed
the railway hv which II hot come
there to Evreux. where il WAS caught.
CAPTAIN Renaui concludes that exist
,inn theories. which ascrlbe homlng 10
lor.n l.ru.tcI..e or lucal magnetic cur
rents. ,'o not account tor his facts. es-
)9eciallv the return I" a tFdFehha
home. But, say the advocates of that
theory. he does not seem 70 under
stand the magnetic theory Of the fac
ultv. The magnetic currents "l ,hf
earth are not lucal. Int lInlTer~al. tn'
wherever the cote i pia'elt fAt bIF'
can guide itself hy Chem tils experi
nlents. they say. 80 far from r"nfro
verting fne magnetic hypothesis ten'
rather to confirm i. AMI nAa ther
been an electrician n tne seanre
the academic when lie read his paper
t this would haze been pointed ont.