Torpid
Having the bodily functions slowed. Torpidity is an energy-saving state which is not commonly found in birds in the British Isles, but is sometimes seen in nestlings of the Swift Apus apus when adverse weather prevents their parents providing sufficient insect food. In the absence of thermoregulation their body temperature drops at night, almost to that of the air, and so they become torpid.From Peter Weaver's Birdwatcher's Dictionary
Copyright © 1981 by Peter Weaver