1865.] Note, by Dr. Davy, on Birds. 475 



Supplementary Note to Dr. Davy's Paper on Birds ; received November 

 25, 18G5. 



Mention is made in the paper referred to of the comparatively low tem- 

 perature of certain birds. Another example of the same kind occurs in the 

 goose ; in two instances I have found its temperature in recto 104, and in 

 a third 103'5. The trials were made in November; the geese had not 

 previously been confined, were about seven months old, fully feathered 

 (few birds have a warmer clothing), and the weather at the time was 

 moderate ; the temperature of the open air between 40 and 50 Fahr. 



Notice is also taken of a bird, the grouse, not remarkable for power of 

 flight, having air in its femora as well as in its humeri. I have since 

 found another example of the same kind in the pheasant, a bird even of 

 feebler flight; in no instance, and I have examined several specimens, 

 have I detected marrow in either of these bones. 



In reference to the statement implying that those bones of birds 

 which contain air in their adult state, in an earlier stage contain marrow, 

 later observations have led me to infer that, instead of marrow, these bones 

 have their canals impacted with blood-vessels, which in process of the 

 bird's growth shrink and are absorbed. 



November 23, 1865. 

 Lieut.-General SABINE, President, in the Chair. 



In compliance with the Statutes, notice was given from the Chair of the 

 ensuing Anniversary Meeting, and the list of Council and Officers proposed 

 for election was read as follows : 



President. Lieut.-General Edward Sabine, R.A., D.C.L., LL.D. 

 Treasurer. William Allen Miller, M.D., LL.D. 

 f William Sharpey, M.D., LL.D. 

 \ George Gabriel Stokes, Esq., M.A., D.C.L. 



Foreign Secretary. Professor William Hallows Miller, M.A. 



Other Members of the Council. John Frederic Bateman, Esq. ; Lionel 

 Smith Beale, Esq., M.B. ; William Bowman, Esq. ; Commander F. J. 

 Owen Evans, R.N. ; Edward Frankland, Esq., Ph.D. ; Francis Galton, Esq.; 

 John Peter Gassiot, Esq. ; John Edward Gray, Esq., Ph.D. ; Thomas 

 Archer Hirst, Esq., Ph.D. ; Sir Henry Holland, Bart., M.D., D.C.L. ; 

 William Odling, Esq., M.B. ; Sir John Rennie, Knt. ; Prof. Warington W. 

 Smyth ; William Spottiswoode, Esq., M.A. ; Paul E. Count de Strzlecki, 

 C.B., D.C.L. ; Vice-Chancellor Sir W. P. Wood, D.C.L. 



Dr. Robert M'Donnell was admitted into the Society. 

 Pursuant to notice given at the last Meeting, The Right Honourable 

 Charles Pelham Villiers was proposed for immediate ballot. 



VOL. XIV. 2 O 



