THE BIRDS' COMPASS 



supposed, remember the main landmarks and 

 thus find their way back. 



But there are not many landmarks at sea, and 

 another experiment by Captain Reynaud clearly 

 proved that Pigeons can return to their homes 

 over a country which they could not possibly 

 have seen. In this experiment he took five 

 Pigeons, when they were under the influence of 

 chloroform, from Orleans to Evreux, France. 

 This is a distance of about seventy miles. After 

 two days, when they had thoroughly recovered 

 from the effects of the drug, they were released, 

 and at once returned to their home in Orleans. 

 These birds, therefore, were certainly not guided 

 by anything that they had learned of the route 

 while traveling to Evreux. 



The natives of certain islands in the South 

 Pacific use Frigate or Man-of-War Birds for 

 messengers. Probably this custom is of much 

 older origin than our employment of the Pigeon. 

 The Frigate Bird is a great wanderer. With 

 wings which measure, when spread, about eight 

 feet from tip to tip, its body is not much larger 

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