pouivTRY note;s. 193 



3. Dropping eggs zfJiile on roosts. Eggs are sometimes 

 found on the roost boards in the morning. They indi- 

 cate a disturbance of the normal laying rhythm. 



From this enumeration it is plain that full control of the mat- 

 ter demands intelligence and cooperation on the part of the hen. 



It should, of course, be understood that the sources of error 

 here discussed are not the only ones in trapnesting. They 

 are merely the ones which are peculiar to that work. It is 

 always possible to misread a leg band or to set down an incor- 

 rect number on the record sheet. Here the skill and experi- 

 ence of the recorderare the important factors. It is believed as 

 a result of studying a great many records, and applying many 

 different sorts of checks that in this respect as well as in the 

 other the Maine Experiment Station trap nest records during 

 the last three years, as made by Mr. Walter Anderson, have 

 attained a minimum of error, which, considering the scale of 

 operations, is humanly not substantially reducible. 



Technical Studies On Poultry Already Published. 



A considerable portion of the more technical scientific work 

 of the department of biology of the Station, which has in 

 charge the work with poultry, is published in current biological 

 journals, not readily accessible to the agricultural public. It is 

 the purpose of the j)resent section of this bulletin to give- 

 briefly the essential points brought out in certain of these tech- 

 nical studies which have been publishell during the past year. 



THE SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION OE EGG PRODUCTION. 



During the year Part II of the "Biometrical Study of Egg 

 Production in the Domestic Fowl" * has been issued. This part 

 deals with the distribution of egg production during the dif- 

 ferent parts of the laying year. Summarized the results of 

 this study are as follows : 



The data on which this study is based are the trap nest records 

 of Barred Plymouth Rocks collected at the Maine Experiment 

 Station, involving detailed monthly egg records of more than 

 2,400 birds, collected in a period of nine consecutive years. 



*U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. An. Ind. Bulletin no, Part IT, pp. 81-170. 

 T911. 



