Can Pigeons "Hear" Their Way Home?

Julius Caesar used Homing Pigeons to carry messages from the remote corners of Europe to home, in Rome. That was two thousand years ago. Ever since that time, thoughtful people have wondered at these amazing birds, and in the present century, this wonder has manifested itself in some honest scientific study, trying to learn just how they do it. What "super-human powers" do the pigeons possess that enable them to take off in unfamiliar territory, make a few circles, and fly home with remarkable speed? Scientists in Germany, England, Italy, Switzerland and the United States were probing at this question. Then in 1967, Dr. William T. Keeton in the Avian Orientation Research Project, at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, turned his attention to the question. For many years Cornell had the reputation of having one of the world's leading centers of research in animal behavior - everything from honeybees to monkeys. Keeton was a "natural" - not only because of hi...