BROODERS. 30? 



therefore they keep in motion when they should have 

 all been buried in slumber an hour ago. 



In a little while the animal heat raises the tempera- 

 ture to 103 at the center and the chicks there drop off 

 to sleep, crooning a contented lullaby in spite of some 

 crowding going on by their fellows at the outside of the 

 group, where it is 99 or so. The heat still rises because 

 there are twenty-five, perhaps seventy-five, little fur- 

 naces under the hover, each 108 inside. By the time 

 the air at the outer row of birds reaches 103, and they 

 squat down with the contented exclamation before 

 referred to, it is probably 106 at the center, and rising, 

 and the chicks there are soon awakened from their too 

 short nap by close, hot, foul air, reeking with dampness 

 from the dead bodies of a couple of their mates lying as 

 flat as if an elephant had trod on them. These two 

 were crushed in the preliminary struggle. Then begins 

 the strife of those in the center to get out. The outer 

 row grumble : " Keep still, won't you, and let a fellow 

 sleep," and then they begin to crowd with all their 

 might against those in the center. Now follows a battle 

 by all hands, during which some of the combatants open 

 the curtain flaps, either by running against them in the 

 fight or by running out for a breath of fresh air, and so 

 the center of the room is partially ventilated, as the air 

 has been stirred up by the rumpus and cooled somewhat, 

 and the sleepy inmates, having added one or two more 

 to the list of dead, settle down again, the temperature 

 having been by this time lowered sufficiently to be 

 endurable, no thanks to the regulator, however. 



But, alas, there is no rest for the weary. The same 

 thing goes on over and over all night, the period between 

 the maximum and minimum heat being perhaps of an 

 hour's duration. The birds become exhausted for lack 

 of sleep. The strongest do not get into the list of killed 

 or wounded, but all, whether at the head or the foot as 



