The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-01
AERIAL WARFARE
TAUGHT BY BIRDS
Curious Results Derived From
Recent Experiments
GREAT EAGLES SWOOP
The scieutists Discover in Redbreast's
Flight and Tactics Suggestfons
of Great Value for Airships
of the Future
From BIRD Flight and Navigation
in the Century Magazine.

From Bird Flight and Air-Navigation
in the Century Magazine.
Air navigation has made its great
est advance toward actual mastery of
the elements through a discovery by
Prof Ernest Huebner, the German nat
uralist. that migrating birds never
cross the seas and oceans except on
storm currents, and sometimes on the
storms themselves. His Investigations
also show that the bird determines
from the winds direction when to start
on its single flight over water. Storm
paths and ballooning experience havs
both shown that these currents have
tremendous velocity, and sustained
directness that guides the bird to its
destination. Huebner found that bird
flight is not affected by temperature,
sunshine, rain, snow or ice; nothing but
a sudden blizzard from an adverse quar-
ter. or a fog, compels the bird to seek
refuge on islands or the nearest main
land. In Germany these facts have
given the key to air navigation and
tn ere it is believed that afr craft will
soon navigate with the aid of the
storms force, which before had been
thought necessarily to interfere with
air travel.
The tiny German redbreast. a typl-
cal bird of passage, which migrates
across the Baltic in October. was the
subject of Professor Huebner's inves
LEGATIONS, which were carried on at
Stralsund, in Germany, on the Baltic.
where many parks, ponds and gardens
enabled observers to check closely the
birds movements.
The distance traversed by the red
breast though great for the birds size
Is trif1ing when compared with the thou
sands of miles covered In a single flight
by birds hardly larger. The. exhibit that
attracted the. greatest attention at the
Aeronautical exposition at Frankfort
Germany, in the summer of 1909, was the
large map of the northern hemisphere
showing a broad, red ribbon down the
middle of the Atlantic ocean from, Nova
Scotia to South America. That ribbon
marked the 25e0-mlle migratory fight an
nually made by the American golden
plover. Air navigators from all over the
world gazed with wonder at this map
because it Indicated that the. bird flies
all that distance directly across the
mighty west-to-east drift of the air. This
was regarded as an eye opener as to
what airships may soon accomplish. The
plover's movements have been closely
traced by field naturalists of the United
States Biological9survey from their north
en- haunts to Guatemala, assisted by hun
dreds of ornithologlsts all over the coun-
try. Every spring and autumn their re-
ports give records of when the birds are
first seen and when they disappear from
each locality Also lighthouse keepers
provide records OF the birds while they
are flying along the coasts and over the
water ~-3tr
On their voyages over the open sea
there is nothing but the winds to guide
the birds How this may be done has
been shown by n. E. de Cyon, French
scientist, in careful experiment dis
proving that a mysterious sixth sense OF
locality resides in the ear of the birds,
The ears Of young homing pigeon and
the nostrils of another were tightly
scaled, cocaine being applied to prevent
the bird from feeling the cotton; wad
Care was taken that the breathing should
not be interfered with. A third pigeon
was left free. Blindfolded, the pigeons
in dark basket, were transported SOl
miles to strange place. All new briskly
away In few hours the free bird, and
scarcely later the deaf bird, arrived o.
their haunt. Two days later the pigeon
that had its nestrils closed reached the
cote 1t was nearly starved, but it's noe
trils were open. The bird. bewildered,
had failed to find its way when the All
could not strike its nose. Evidently the
bird gets its bearings from the air itself
for It cannot see far enough for guidance
Its nostrils first catch the wind. The del
icate membranes, acting as barometer
hygrometer and Thermometer should IN
stantiy register any change In the mos
ture. the temperature, the weight or ths
vibration Of the current.
This should enable the bird to tell
when the wind Is no longer uniform
Now, an air navigator, with his still
imperfect knowledge Of the air. has
learned that any change In moisture
and temperature means sudden
sh fitting In the direction and speed
Of an air current. 1t is evident that
the bird does not lose the wind In
which 1t wants to travel The tattler
the sanderiing the turnstone and the
ptntail annually travel from islands In
Bering sea, over the Pacific to the
Hawaiian and flaming Islands. dis
lance of 1900 miles. which must be
made in single flight. The slightes'
deviation in the course at the point Of
departure would make the birds miss
the Hawaiian Islands. or course. the
birds must make their way over the
ocean with the precision of . rifle
bullet and at tremendous speed.
The birds art in mastering the pair
has become vitality important in Gre
ating that new element in international
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