iBirti-lore 



A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. II 



August, 1900 



No. 4 



The Orientation of Birds'-' 



BY CAPTAIN GABRIEL REYNAUD, French Army 



Translated from the French Vjy Mrs. Clara J. Coxe 



HE question of the orientation of animals has given 

 rise to many controversies, and the ideas expressed 

 on this subject may be summed up in two theories. 

 Some, with Spaulding, Russell, Wallace, and Croom 

 Robertson, think that the faculty of orientation 

 should be attributed to a particular acuteness of the 

 five senses inherent in animals, they having ideas which only reach 

 us through the medium of instruments of precision. Others consider 

 that orientation brings into play a sixth sense, independent of the 

 first five. Flaurens, Romanes, Henry Lordes, Goltz, Pfliiger, Mach, 

 Crum Brown, and Brand admit that this sense exists and has its 

 seat in the semi-circular tubes of the ear. 



These two opposed theories are each supported by unquestionable 

 facts, apparently giving reason for the two schools. Now, there can- 

 not be contradiction regarding facts. 



If one unique law governs all the acts of orientation, these acts 

 must all occur in the same way. If, when placed in different condi- 

 tions, the animal has recourse to different methods of orientation, it 

 indicates that the law which it obeys is no law. 



We have bent all our attention to the observation of the facts. 

 We have verified that our predecessors are not in harmony with each 

 other, because the observations which had served them as a point of 



*At the time this paper was written for Bird-Lore. Captain Reynaud was in charge of the 

 Homing Pigeon Sersice of the French Army. He subsequently was called on to establish a ' Pigeon 

 Post' for the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, and in the interests of this company has twice 

 visited this country. His initial e.xperiments in this connection are mentioned in this article. 

 Later, we hope to receive from him a detailed account of his important attempts to increase the use- 

 fulness of the Homing Pigeon through careful training and selection. — Ed. 



