582 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



bodies the size of grains of wheat, the cysts of the Coccidium, 

 and on the ground and on the plants as large as split-peas 

 would be seen the tape-worm eggs patiently awaiting the 

 advent of their second host. It is perhaps a picture which 

 will not appeal to all but yet it represents what unseen and 

 unsuspected is always going on on a grouse moor. 



Two other points remain, the seasonal character of the 

 disease and whether any means can be suggested to check 

 either Coccidiosis or Strongylosis or both. 



" Grouse disease " is always said to be at its worst in the 

 spring months, to decline during the summer and to recrudesce 

 in a milder form in the autumn. Coccidiosis undoubtedly is 

 a spring disease ; it attacks the chicks and if they survive the 

 first six or seven weeks of their life they usually live to 

 grow up. This disease certainly abates during the summer 

 but it does not recrudesce during the autumn. Strongy- 

 losis also occurs most virulently in the spring, when the 

 birds are exhausted by a winter of semi-starvation and the 

 female especially by the demands made on her by egg-laying; 

 it is also prevalent in autumn but the worst cases have by 

 this time presumably been killed off and those not so heavily 

 afflicted are still struggling to survive. It is not as a rule 

 reported during June and July but very few know what 

 happens on the moor during these months. The grouse are 

 almost unseen, their state of health is unknown. This again is 

 a matter for further inquiry but at present the view that 

 " disease " dies down during the summer has little but negative 

 evidence to support it. It probably lingers on, gradually 

 lessening in intensity until the near approach of August 12 

 again attracts the attention of the moor owner and the sports- 

 man to his birds. 



With regard to the prevention of the disease, a hopeful view 

 can be taken. Intelligent management has already diminished 

 and in certain cases almost, if not quite, eliminated the danger 

 of disease, and this without resort to outside aid or scientific 

 advice. There is reason to hope, with a clearly defined objective 

 and a more general realisation on the part of moor owners 

 not only of the immediate cause of grouse disease but also 

 of the contributory conditions leading thereto, that the best 

 methods which obtain at present in moor management will be 

 more widely adopted and that the suggestions of new lines 



