THE BROODING INSTINCT IN THE DOMESTIC FOWL 277 



have been collated there were out of 395 birds which became 

 broody at any time but three that manifested this instinct 

 during the month of December. This is approximately 0.76 

 per cent, of the flock showing broodiness as early as December. 

 Only 10 of the birds manifested the brooding instinct during the 

 month of January, and 8 in the month of February. Thus all 

 told there were but 21 out of 395, or approximately 5.3 per cent, 

 of the birds which became broody before March 1. 



It might be thought that the number of eggs which No. 689 

 had laid before December 25 was the cause of her going broody 

 at so early a date. As a matter of fact this is not the case because 

 there are many cases (probably hundreds of cases) in our records 

 where pullets laid more eggs than No. 689 during the early 

 winter period and did not go broody at all. A single example 



Figure 7. Showing the record of bird No. 252-E. 



may suffice to illustrate the point here. Bird No. 47K laid 106 

 eggs before February 1 of her pullet year and did not go broody 

 at all. This egg production, it will be seen, is enormously in 

 excess of that of No. 689. 



A case of still earlier first broodiness is shown in Fig. 7, which 

 gives the record of bird No. 252E. 



This bird was hatched March 31, 1908. She began laying on 

 September 15. She thus began laying when 168 days old. In 

 September she laid 13 eggs, in October 28 eggs, and in November 

 10 eggs. On November 14 she showed the characteristic behavior 

 of broodiness and was isolated. The symptoms, however, 

 quickly subsided, and she was released on the 16th. The period 

 of rest was protracted until January 7, when she again began lay- 

 ing. She laid through January and less regularly in February 

 up to February 25, on which date she died. In this case the bird 

 first became broody when 228 days old. 



