122 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I 914 . 
3. VARIATION RELATED TO THE STATE OE HEALTH. 
One of the birds (No. 441) used in this investigation offers 
an opportunity to study the effect of the state of health upon the 
weight of the egg. This bird laid 179 eggs during her pullet 
year. These eggs increased in size exactly in accordance with 
the general rule for the flock. Her body weight increased 1 from 
2003 gms. in November and December 1910 to 2325 gms. in 
September, 1911. That is up to the first fall month she was a 
normal bird. She stopped laying for the molt October 17, 1911, 
and did not lay again until March 4, 1912. From this time 
until August 17 she laid quite well for a second year Barred 
Plymouth Rock, producing 90 eggs in this time. These eggs 
were smaller than the eggs of the previous year. Nothing ab- 
normal was seen in the appearance of the bird until during the 
summer when she began to appear somewhat sick. She con- 
tinued to lay until August 17. After this she became more 
dumpish. In September it was apparent that she would not 
recover and lay before the close of the investigation in Novem- 
ber. She was therefore, killed and autopsied September 10, 
1912. 
At autopsy her body weight was 2190 gms., a slight decrease 
from the weight a year before. The following lesions were 
recorded: 1. The liver was congested and friable. 2. The 
lungs were congested and showed yellowish lesions. 3. There 
was some peritoneal disturbance which had caused a greenish 
deposit on the intestinal mesentery. That is the bird at autopsy 
showed evidences of disturbances which were probably of some 
time standing. 
A comparison of the egg data for this bird with the cor- 
responding data for the other birds show that during the first 
year each egg part increased in weight in the normal manner. 
The bird was then no doubt in good physical condition. The 
bird did not lay from October, 1911 to March, 1912. Through- 
out the second year the weight of each egg part decreased. This 
decrease was most rapid after the bird was observed to be sick 
but had been going on for three months before this. Evidently 
the physiological disturbances had affected the size of the egg 
before they affected the behavior of the bird. 
Five other birds died or were killed during the investigation. 
