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The olfactory system of the pigeon (Columba livia) was examined. Our electrophysiological and experimental neuroanatomical (Fink-Heimer technique) data showed that axons from the olfactory bulb terminated in both sides of the forebrain. The cortex prepiriformis (olfactory cortex), the hyperstriatum ventrale and the lobus parolfactorius comprised the uncrossed terminal field. The crossed field included the paleostriatum primitivum and the caudal portion of the lobus parolfactorius, areas which were reached through the anterior commissure. In this report the relationships between areas that receive olfactory information and the possible roles that olfaction plays in the birds' behavior are discussed.

In their attempts to understand the impressive accomplishments of migrating or homing birds, scientists have proposed an array of sensory mechanisms, many of which are almost bizarre by human standards. Some require what seem to us to be extremely fine discriminations of stimulus features of which we are hardly aware; others demand receptor systems as yet not even known to exist. Through all this theorizing, one must search diligently indeed to discover any mention of olfaction. Why has the sense of smell been so completely rejected as a means by which birds might acquire crucial information about their environment? It seems likely that most people take the common sense point of view that birds simply do not appear to sniff their way through life and so do not rely on olfactory cues. Their apparently dry, unyielding, somewhat remotely placed external nares have probably influenced opinion. Nonetheless, some research has been conducted on this topic and avian olfaction has a long, though limited, history, aspects of which have been summarized in fairly recent times by such writers as McCartn e~,~ Stager,15 and Walter.'s The continuous theme of this literature has been a debate about the existence of a functional avian olfactory system. The most recent evidence-anatomical, electrophysiological, and behavioral-establishes the system's validity but is not yet extensive enough to identify its roles in avian life.22 On the premise that a patent sensory channel is potentially useful, my purpose here is to call attention to the availability of odor cues to birds and to describe some experiments with one form, the kiwi, which support the hypothesis that this bird is at least capable of finding its food by olfactory means.Physiological and behavioral experiments have been conducted in my laboratory with several different avian species.20.a Recording electrodes have been implanted in the olfactory bulbs of a black-footed albatross (Diomedea nigripes),

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