122 MAINE AGRICUI.TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9IO. 



through first-hand practical experience with poultry and par- 

 ticularly Barred Plymouth Rocks. Thus the beak — which is 

 not ordinarily reckoned as a secondary sexual character — in 

 this bird is to the fancier unmistakably that of a male. 



The triple yolked egg shown in Fig. 82 was laid September 

 27, 1909, by a Barred Plymouth Rock pullet bearing the leg- 

 band number 318. This pullet was hatched March 29, 1909. 

 Its growth and physiological development were normal. Dur- 

 ing the spring and summer this chick was kept with others in 

 a large field of grass, where it was under free range conditions. 

 On September i, 1909, this pullet, along with others, was put 

 into the poultry-house which provides permanent winter quar- 

 ters. She began laying about three weeks after this removal 

 to the house. Her complete laying record to the date of writ- 

 ins: is as follows : 



Fig. 82. Photograph (approximately natural size) of the triple yollied 

 egg described in the text. 



One egg was laid by bird No. 318 on: — 



September 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30. 



October 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19. 

 So far as is known the first three eggs laid by this bird were 

 entirely normal. That laid on September 26 was "soft-shelled," 

 i. e., bore only the shell membrane as an outside covering, with 

 only a slight deposit of lime in the form of a true shell. This 

 was followed on the 27th by the triple yolked egg. Since that 

 date the eggs from this bird have been normal. The laying of 

 the "soft-shelled" tgg and the triple yolked egg on successive 



