Yeah i read up on it after hearing it on the show and your right its more of a magnet but on the show they said hematite and something else (can't remember) but nonetheless what they were saying and did further say that it was some type of stone with iron in it.
Now to make something useful from this thread, one of my favorite war movies The Lost Battalion depicts the soldiers using homing pigeons to communicate from the front lines to the artillary formations. They were targets of the entrenched Germans. If you not seen the movie it's worth the time. Based on a true story during World War I.
Ah with little ricky schroder. I had to google that. Yeah seen that one but I can barely remember it. Might have to check it out again sometime. Hey best war movie.....bridge over river kwai