20 
Proceedings of the Koyal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
II. Previous Observations on the Subject. 
The earliest temperature records of marine birds are probably those 
made by J ohn Davy * on a voyage between England and Ceylon some time 
between 1816 and 1820. These were obtained from two species of the 
petrel. 
“ Procellari cequinoctialis . — In latitude N. 2° 3', on the 8th of August, 
air 79°, sea 81 0, 5, the temperature of this bird was 103°*5, and that of 
another 105 o- 5.” 
“ P. capensis . — In latitude S. 34° 1', on the 11th of May, air 59°, sea 60°, 
the temperature of two birds of this kind was 105 o, 5.” 
While on a voyage around the world on a Government ship in the years 
1836 and 1837, two Frenchmen, Eydoux and Souleyet,f recorded the rectal 
temperature of the greater albatross, the sheathbill ( Chionis minor), and 
three species of petrel. Their observations were made, for the most part, in 
high Southern latitudes, off Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, in cold 
weather. No statement is made as to how the birds were caught, but the 
thermometer was introduced into the rectum while they were still alive. 
The following table shows the figures they obtained. Each observation 
was made on a different individual : — 
Observations. 
Maximum. 
Minimum. 
Mean. 
Albatross ..... 
4 
40°3 C. 
39°6 C. 
39°9 C. 
Petit albatross .... 
1 
41*2 
Grand 
11 
40-5 
38-0 
39-4 
Petrel damier .... 
3 
42-0 
40*0 
40-7 
„ gris .... 
2 
39-7 
39-5 
39-6 
Grand petrel noir 
2 
398 
39-6 
39-7 
Chionis 
1 
40-0 
A year or two subsequent to this a much more extended series of 
observations on the body temperature of diving and swimming birds was 
made by another Frenchman, Martins, £ on a cruise in a French man-of-war 
to the Faroe Islands and Spitzbergen in the summer of 1838, and again in 
1840. His results, however, ]ike those of his predecessors, are open to 
criticism on one point in particular. He does not seem to appreciate the 
fact that severe muscular effort quickly raises the body temperature ; at 
any rate he takes no account of this factor as a possible source of error in 
* John Davy, Researches , Physiological and Anatomical , Philadelphia, 1840, p. 303. 
t Eydoux and Souleyet, Comptes rendus de l’ Acad, desscien. de Paris , t. vi., 1838, p. 458. 
X Martins, Jour, de Physiologie , t. i., 1858, p. 10. 
