DR DAVY ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE COMMON FOWL. 121 



7. Of the Temperature, during Moulting. 



Of 10 hens undergoing this change the average temperature was 108 o, 44 ; the 

 highest in any one instance was 109°5 ; the lowest, 107°. It is noteworthy that 

 the highest degree was observed in the middle stage of the process, when the 

 surface of the abdomen was nearly destitute of feathers. 



Conclusions. 



The results, I would beg to remark, are offered merely as approximations 

 as such they seem to show — 



1. That the temperature of the common fowl is 107°'81. 



2. That the temperature of the sexes before maturity is comparatively high, 

 being 108°-5, whilst that of the two sexes at this stage varies very little. 



3. That the temperature of the male, on the whole, irrespective of any parti- 

 cular age, is higher than that of the female, being as 108°- 39 to 107 Q- 3. 



4. That the temperature of the fully matured male (a single instance) 

 is 108°-77. 



5. That the temperature of the laying hen is 107°-4. 



6. That during incubation the temperature falls, and is as low as 107°. 



7. And that during moulting it rises to 108°'44. 



The variations of temperature, from the highest to the lowest, noticed in the 

 several instances, are less perhaps than might have been expected. No doubt, 

 they were connected with peculiarities of circumstance, which very careful 

 observation might possibly have detected,— circumstances of weather, not only 

 as to temperature, but also as to moisture of air, degree of exposure, and varying 

 strength of wind, not to insist on other conditions, such as the quantity of food 

 taken, the period of fast, amount of exercise, the precise state of health. The 

 very few observations I have made, tending at all to illustrate modifying circum- 

 stances in relation to temperature, are the following : — 



A hen, seven months old, after having been confined in a basket thirty-six 

 hours without food, the thermometer part of the time below the freezing point, 

 was of the temperature 106 o- 5. 



Another of the same age, confined without food twenty-six hours, the ther- 

 mometer during the time between 40° and 50°, was 107°. 



An old hen, the leg of which had been broken two or three days previous to 

 trial, and had ate little since the preceding evening, was 105°. 



A fowl labouring under difficulty of breathing of some hours, was 100°. 



A male bird, in full vigour, of the temperature 108 o, 75, was let loose, and 

 driven till it stopped, after four minutes,— now its temperature was found to 

 be 109°. 



