THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LII 



In any one hatching group a period of several months 

 elapses between the date the first pullet begins to lay and 

 the date the last member of the flock starts. This period 

 is longest for the March-hatched birds, apparently be- 

 cause the warm spring weather brings all the stragglers 

 to laying and because the March-hatched birds are the 

 first to lay in the fall. For the May-hatched birds the 

 period between first and last pullet is shorter because they 

 begin to lay later in the fall than the March-hatched birds. 



For the March-hatched pullets of 1915-16, the initial 

 period is nearly twice as long as for the April or May 

 pullets. The date of the first egg of the first pullet is ap- 

 proximately a month later for the May than for the April 

 pullets. The data, however, for 1913-14 are not quite 

 comparable with those for 1915-16. In the first place it 

 was impossible in 1913, because of lack of room, to begin 

 putting the pullets into the laying quarters until late in 

 October, while some were not finally in place until about 

 the middle of November. The birds therefore did not get 

 settled down at once. The March- and April-hatched 

 pullets both began to lay at approximately the same time 

 and although most (77 per cent.) of the March birds had 

 commenced laying by January, a considerable percentage 

 (viz., 44.9 per cent.) of the April pullets did not begin to 

 lay until after. Jaunary 1, which is approximately the 

 same percentage (viz., 49.7 per cent.) obtained for the 

 April pullets of the 1915-16 flock. It should be noted, 

 too, that 73.9 per cent, of the March pullets of this year 

 began to lay before January 1, so that the effect of the 

 delay in bousing the 1913-14 flock shows itself principally 

 in a retardation of the first eggs of the March pullets, 

 forcing a larger percentage of first eggs into December 

 than would be normal for that flock. There is a further 

 difference in the two years. The percentage of the April 

 hatched pullets laying after February 1 was about 2| 

 times as great for the 1915^16 flock as for the 1913-14 

 flock, the ratio being 24 per cent, for the former to 9.5 per 

 cent, for the latter. 



