The Orientation of Birds 143 



find there, as the fabulist happily expresses it, "good supper, good 

 lodging, and the rest of it ?" On the other hand, if it is true that, 

 local knowledge is not strictly indispensable to assure the return to- 

 the lodging, and that the sense of distant orientation is strictly- 

 sufficient to guide the animal, we will admit without question that 

 it is possible to make a movable Pigeon cote and accustom its inmates- 

 to a nomadic life. 



Let us suppose that we have transplanted, with all its belongings,., 

 a Pigeon cote in the midst of new surroundings, without the least 

 disturbance being brought to the existence of its inhabitants. The 

 latter set at liberty from the time of its arrival will go far away,, 

 perhaps, but the Law of Reverse Scent will assure their return. 



We remarked before that the straying Pigeon knows how to find 

 again the point of release hardly caught sight of in the morning, and 

 to which no agreeable remembrance, no interest, attaches him. With 

 still more reason the inmate of a movable Pigeon cote must try to 

 reconstitute his itinerary. If we carry him away a distance for the 

 release he will come back to find his home at the precise point tha± 

 it occupied when he left it. The movable cote, arriving in a new 

 lodging place, would be in a condition to render almost immediate ser- 

 vice in that locality. This new way of employing messenger Pigeons,, 

 unattainable, according to the ideas we have held up to this time, in 

 matter of orientation, is only the strict application of our theory. 



Some interesting experiments have proved in a conclusive manner 

 that the fidelity to the natal Pigeon cote could be reconciled with a 

 nomadic existence. A certain number of Pigeons are born and brought, 

 up in a wagon arranged as a Pigeon cote. They have no other lodg- 

 ing than their rolling habitation. It matters little to the Pigeon 

 whether the wagon stops today in the heart of a valley, looks for 

 shelter tomorrow in a forest, or settles itself for some time in the 

 maze of houses which form a great city. If we should carry him. 

 away some distance from the cote for the release, he will not be. 

 guided on his return by his local knowledge, necessarily very slight,, 

 that he may have of the surroundings of his wagon, but by his sense- 

 of direction which gives him a subjective idea of his position relating 

 to the cote. 



Practice has, on all points, confirmed our theory. We have had 

 the chance to make some very interesting observations, and we will' 

 cite some facts which have a direct reference to our argument. * 



*Our e.xperience permits us to settle an interesting point. According to M. Dureste, eggs stirred 

 with a certain violence for a long time do not hatch out. We have found that the rolling on the- 

 highway, on the pavement, or in a railway car when the car sets in motion, does not modify in any 

 way the condition of the hatching 



It is just to add that in the movable Pigeon cote the Pigeons brood with the same regularity as; 

 their fellows in an ordinary Pigeon cote. 



