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Initially the intention of these experiments was to repeat the investigations of the Frankfurt group (e.g. Wiltschko 1968) using another kind of cage design. Could magnetic orientation be demonstrated in a small Emlen funnel only 29 cm in diameter and by application of a horizontal field produced by bar magnets? In the meantime, the papers of Wiltschko and Wiltschko (1975a, 1975b, 1976a, 1976b) appeared, concerning the dominance and/or primacy of magnetic orientation over stellar orientation. Thus an additional and very important question became whether the findings and conclusions of the Wiltschkos could be repeated and confirmed by the funnel experiments, in which conflicting information from stellar and magnetic cues was presented to the birds.