THE BODY TEMPERATURE OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL (GALLUS GALLUS). 617 



Summary. 



1 . The rectal temperature of the brooding hen shows little change throughout the 

 whole period of incubation until the chickens begin to be hatched, when it rises 

 perceptibly. 



2. The mean temperature for the twenty-four hours is a few tenths of a degree 

 below that of the control hen. The diurnal range is diminished, and, while the day 

 temperature is lower than that of the control, the night temperature is usually higher. 



3. For some days after hatching, the day temperature of the mother-hen is higher 

 than that of the control and the range is greater. 



4. The modification in the diurnal temperature curve during incubation is such as 

 one would associate with the altered habits of the hen apart altogether from the 

 brooding condition. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



(1) Rice, Report of the Bureau of Farmers' Institutes, State of New York, 1904, p. 222. 



(2) Eycleshymer, Biological Bulletin, vol. xii., 1907, p. 360. 



(3) Cyphers, Incubation and its Natural Laws, 1S94. 



PRESENTED 

 13 APR. 1911 



TRANS. POY. SOC. ED1N., VOL. XLVII. PART III. (NO. 21). 92 



