THE METHOD OF HOMING PIGEONS. jSj 



he sees the red brick courthouse near the State Capitol. He flies 

 thither, but on reaching the city nothing looks familiar, and he 

 spends little time in circling over it. He is soon lost to view 

 at X. His course thus far measures about ten miles; time, a 

 trifle over eight minutes. He was liberated at four o'clock, and 

 after being lost at x he was next seen as he swooped down from 

 the west to settle upon the roof of the loft at 5.10. As it is 

 almost certain that he flew continuously, this leaves sixty min- 

 utes unaccounted for, and at a moderate estimate fifty miles of 

 search-line not drawn upon the chart. Were it possible to fill 

 this in, how much " sense of direction " should we need to invoke 

 to account for his finding home ? He has flown certainly eleven 

 miles, almost as surely sixty, to find a good-sized barn half a 

 mile away. 



The result of education is seen in his subsequent flights. A 

 week later he flies home from the same hill in less than a minute. 

 Two weeks later still he flies from the university almost as 

 straight as though he did have a " sense of direction." Upon the 

 question of education, however, we must compare Fig. 3 with 

 similar tracings of another bird. No. 5, given in Fig. 4. In the 

 first trial No. 5 (continuous line. Fig. 4) succeeds in reaching home 

 from the open cage without much difficulty. Liberated from a 

 boat on Lake Monona for a second trial, he flies wildly (the 

 broken line seen in Fig. 4). This tracing gives an index to the 

 harum-scarum character of the bird. Unlike No. 2, which looks 

 over the likely places carefully and then moves on. No. 5 is care- 

 less, has no confidence in his ability, and consequently looks the 

 same ground over and over again (see 1, 2, and 3, Fig. 4). At 

 a he flies out to the familiar hill, and thence does strike out in 

 the right direction (&, Fig. 4) and goes close to home (c), but 

 stupidly fails to recognize it, and flies back to the boat again 

 for a fresh start. No. 5 shows no improvement with education. 

 When carried to the hill for a third trial (dotted line. Fig. 4), 

 he circles for a moment, and then seeing the red barn by the 

 farmhouse, he starts off the wrong way. This bird, with eleven 

 others, is subsequently sent away six miles, and he alone of the 

 twelve fails to return. No doubt there are stupid pigeons as well 

 as stupid men. 



Two points of some little interest from their bearing upon com- 

 parative psychology may be mentioned in this connection. The 

 first is the definite reaction to color which the pigeons unques- 

 tionably gave. Until they had completed their education so far 

 as to know the landscape pretty well, and had learned that there 

 are many red houses and barns in the world, a red building was 

 enough to determine their flight with almost mathematical pre- 

 cision. The second point is one which the Peckhams have noted 



