Tommy Hardaway.. age 12, of Bossier City, La,  for his question:

How does a homing pigeon find his way?

The spunky little homing pigeon is one of the miracles of the ages, In ancient days he carried messages for the Egyptians and the Persians, Among the islands of Greece he carried last minute news of the Olympic Games, He carried military messages for Caesar’s armies. In the 1ast century, the French used him to carry messages in the Tranco‑Prussian War, The German military, wouldn’t you know, retaliated with a mob of hawks trained to hunt him down. Until 1956 he served in the U,S, Signal Corps and his heroic deeds are part of our military history,

A good homer can fly short distances at a mile a minute, Flights of 660 miles a day and more than a thousand miles in two days are on record, The feathery miracle flies straight homes rarely if ever stopping for food or rest. The soldier pigeon flies bravely through shot and shell and often flops home wounded and exhausted. There is a story of a famous homer who once got his feathers smothered with oil and was unable to fly, Undaunted, he walked the last few miles home.

Human beings tend to get lost in strange cities, in the wild woods, at sea, on the prairies, in the deserts and even on hikIhg trips, To us, the talent of the homing pigeon is a mystery, The best minds in the world do not know how the plump little bird manages to find his way home, sometimes over thousands of miles of strange territory,

The homing talent is, of course, an instinct, a built‑in. know‑how somewhat like the instinct which guides the migrating birds south in the fall and back to the self same nesting grounds in the spring, There are several theories  which suggest how the homer may find his way, but none of them are proven facts, one theory suggests that the bird gets his direction from the position of the sun in the sky, since he tends to veer off course on a foggy day, Another theory suggests that he has some mysterious ability to guide himself by the lines of force in the earth' s magnetic field,

The real answer is probably very complex and both these theories may play a part in it, one thing is certain of the character of the homer is a, very important factor, With all of his sturdy little heart, he wants to fly home with all possible speed, For he is a, great family man, devoted with deep affection to his wife and children.  The female pigeon is equally devoted to her family and some of the best homers have been mothers,

The great feats of the homer, however, are performed only with the help of man, Left to himself, of course, the little bird would never become lost nor would he choose to travel so far from his darling family. For racings military work and other message carryings the homer is carefully trained. He is a special breed of pigeon whose pampered ancestors have been carefully selected for thousands of years.