The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-06-16
HOW CARRIER PIGEONS CIT Tst,eer.
BY Ordinary Methods Extsaora,,.r sill.
fully Combined, Say Exn.
(From the Literary D,uo.. !

(From the Literary D;oos4
The faculty possessed by MANY .n,r,.,a
for finding their way homo IT, ,ii''t'
unknown region has always bao,, "n
less of a mystery. 1t rises tn IT,
in the case of a carrier pigeon 49,
would-be explatners fall back on exnadi.
ents that range all the way from = 49,
terious special sense of "oriant.+ia.,,,
down to everyday ordinary ohsonun
of landmarks, such as man usas -,
he finds his way. Most authorizes ana
now inclined to take middla oo,,,,.e
and believe that the pigeon finds it's wav
by methods more or less ordinary. hat br
very extraordinarily skilled oombir.
tion of them. We translate below mart If
an article on the subject, contributed hu
M. A. Thauzies to the Revue Scientifore
Paris, March 26. The authors assumn.
ton that the animal organism is sensi-
tive to magnetic conditions is contrary 10
scientific observation and experiment
but this is only detail of his theory and
does not materially affect it. M. Than.
zies, after giving reasons for rejecting the
theory of a special sense, and other bv-
potheses put forth on the subject nrn-
ceeds to state the following facts, which
he believes to be firmly established.
81. Well trainedspigeons, even il taken
very far away-say several hundred miles
from the pigeon cote-get their bearings
in normal atmosphere with wonderful
promptpess, without turning about in
other directions without rising to great
height. Before one can count fifty thew
have disappeared.
80. These same pigeons, left in omen
air in their baskets several minutes be-
fore releasing them, while they are given
food and drink, look around them. walk
to and fro, evidently studying the sky.
until, having found out, doubtless, what
they sought, they rsmain quiet. Then, if
the baskets are opened, they fly off low
and almost horizontally, without zigzags
and in straight line in the proper direc
ton.
80. The same pigeons, transported to
strange region, that is for instance.
where they must make a southerly ionr-
nay when they are accustomed to make
northerly one, betray striking degree of
disquietude in their baskets at the mo-
ment of departure, they seem to be sur
prised and somewhat taken alb ack. As
soon as they are free they fly off east
ward; making large ellipses toward the
sun then they explore in all directions,
but they ways return to the east with
a patient tenacity that seems toIsignify
that there is the key to the problem, and
that there alone will be found it's solu-
ton. After several minutes of this, hav-
ing reached an altitude of 100 to 200
yards, they disappear in the proper di7ec-
tion
81. The earlier in the morning they
are released the more prompt is their sue
cess in getting their direction. After
noon, even in calm weather, and even if
the distance is small, their orientation is
dull, slow, wayering and without viyac-
"5. When the day comedies with a
change of the moon. the orientation, both
at the point of departure and also on the
route becomes difficult and the birds re-
turn slowly and at long intervals.
SO. Finally, even when the sky seems
everywhere very clear, if the atmosphere
is undergoing any OF those Invisible dis
turbances that are revealed only by the
most delicate instruments of our observa-
tories, the pigeons, rs in the preceding
case, hesitate, lag behind, and sometimes
take double the time that would be nec-
essary for their journey under other cir
cumStances.
"What must be concluded from these,
facts2 L
The carrier pigeon is bird eminently
electric, and of excessive nervous suscept-
Utility, is also endowed with prodigiously
sensitive vision and with special intelli-
gence that cannot be doubted. The indie.
fatigable excursions that 1t makes, espeo-
Tally ip the morning, often to consider
able distances around its cote and to all
points of the con- pass, aocustom it to q
great number of magnetic and visual sem
sations whose various characteristics it
learns to distinguish according to the
region where it is and to the hour of the
day. BY what may be called its sense of
touch and by its sight it registers, as it
were, like delicate mechanism, impress
sions as varied as they are complex,
which, resulting in the concerted action
OF the organism, enable it to determine
IN given place, at a given moment the
direction in which the dove cote will be
found.
This power of discernment increases
with the accumulation of heredity of
what may be called local instinct This
IS why The carrier pigeon is not satlSfac-
tory unless it has behind it an ancestral
line of carrier pigeons living in the same
region. This IS why, when tor any cause
the air is disturbed, even to degree i'm
perceptible to man, the pigeons element
of investigation, its means of getting its
bearings being different and Insufficient,
it looks about, hesitats, gets its direction
with difficulty, and sometimes even is
lost.
sit gets its direction best in the morn
ing because it prefers to fly in the morn
ing, and because the atmospheric notions
that it gets from this habit are clearer,
more distinct, and more numerous. 1t
gets its bearings without effort in a IA
miliar direction, because it then expert
ences, even before leaving the basket, the
normal sensations that have previously
guided it toward a definite part of the
horizon. 1t directs itself slowly toward
an unknown point because of the indie
clsion resulting from the solicitations of
an already despotic routine, and the new,
but not less imperious impressions that
cause it to deviate from the accustomed
route
During the period of training all it's
mangetic and visual faculties and its
knowledge of meteorological conditions
IL