264 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Natural and artificial brooding- of chickens, II. M. LiVmon (C7. S. Dept. 

 Agr., Farmers' Bui. 62.'t (lOlJf), pi>. IJf, fiys. JO). — This gives practical instrue- 

 tious iu both natural and artificial brooding of chickens, and includes doscrip- 

 tions of tbe brooders used, togetber witb an explanation of tbe most approved 

 methods of heating and handling, and data on feeding chickens. 



European milk chickens (\. Y. Produce Rev. and Amer. Cream., 38 {191Ji), 

 No. 17, pp. 728, 729). — ^The production of milk chickens is confined to sections 

 of France, Belgium, and northwestern Germany. In France the FaveroUe is 

 the favorite breed for this purpose. It is a large bird and a rapid grower, 

 tutting on flesh at all times. At six to eight weeks old the chicks weigh 8 to 

 12 oz. After they have reached a certain age they are specially fed for two 

 weeks on oatmeal, buckwheat meal, sometimes a little barley meal, and cooked 

 rice mixed with soured skim milk. For evei-y 100 birds it is customary to add 

 per day about one-half pound of pure fat, preferably mutton. 



In Belgium the Campine and Malines breeds are largely used, while in Ger- 

 many Orpingtons and Wyaudottes are in favor. 



Method of desiccating eggs, T. Hara {U. 8. Patent, 1,100,973, June 23, 

 1914; abs. in Jour. Soc. Chcm. Indus., 33 {19U), No. 15, p. S0.3).—" Yolks and 

 whites of eggs are beaten up separately, then mixed and dried in thin layers 

 on metallic plates heated to about 110° F. (43° C), the drying operation being 

 carried out in a dark room the air in which is dried and heated to about 

 105° F." 



Seasonal changes in testes and plumage in wild duck, C. G. Seligmann 

 and S. G. Shattock (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1914, I, PP- 23-43, figs. 6; abs. 

 in Jour. Roy. Micros. Soc. [London], No. 4 {1914), PP- 341, 342). — The authors 

 have inquired into the reality of a correlation between seasonal changes in the 

 testes and the " eclipse " plumage of the mallard. 



"As iu many other birds, the testes of the mallard undergo a series of sea- 

 sonal changes, and are spermatogenic only during the winter months and early 

 spring. But the two periods of activity and uonactivity do not coincide with 

 the two seasonal changes in the plumage. The normal passage of the bird from 

 full winter (breeding) plumage to its dusky summer (eclipse) plumage is, 

 however, delayed if castration is effected during the months whilst the gonads 

 are assuming or have attained activity. One bird which was castrated in the 

 winter, and in which the advent of the succeeding eclipse was delayed the 

 following summer, was kept until the summer of the next year. The second 

 eclipse occurred at the normal period, but nodules of regenerated testicular tis- 

 sue were found. It is a remarkable fact that the grafts were fully sperma- 

 togenic in the month of September, an occurrence altogether abnormal in the 

 testicle of the entire bird. The delay above referred to has its parallel in the 

 well-established fact that if a colt is castigated when shedding its winter coat, 

 the shedding is for a time arrested and then proceeds only very slowly. When 

 wild ducks assume the drake plumage the spurious males undergo the seasonal 

 eclipse, but this is somewhat incomplete and aberrant. 



" Removal of the testes during the eclipse does not produce any constant 

 appreciable effect ui>ou the next passage of the bird into winter i)lumage. It 

 would appear that the seasonal change of plumage in the mallard is not con- 

 nected with the spermatogenic function of the testicle, but the influence of a 

 hormone was not excluded since the castration never prevented some regi'owth 

 of testicular tissue." 



The transmission of secondary sexual characters in pheasants, Rose H. 

 Thomas [Jour. Genetics, 3 (1914), No. 4. pp. 275-29S. pis. 6. figs. 2).— The 

 results of breeding experiments with pheasjints, to determine the extent of 

 transmission of secondai-y sexual characters, are reported. 



