144 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



said that the " assumption of male plumage by the 

 hen is invariably caused by disease of the ovary, and 

 the birds exhibiting this change are without any ex- 

 ception always barren and useless " (op, cit., p. 138). 

 This, however, is not always the case (see Fieldy 

 Nov. 1, 1884; Aug. 21, and Sept. 4, 1886; and 

 Gurney, Trans. Norf. Nat. Soc, iv. pp. 184, 392). 

 The converse case of a male bird assuming hen's 

 plumage has been known to occur but rarely {Ibis, 

 1897, p. 438). 



Amongst the diseases to which Pheasants are 

 liable, the most troublesome is that known as 

 " gapes," caused by the presence of small red 

 worms (Syngamus trachealis) in the windpipe, pro- 

 voking a spasmodic gaping in the effort to prevent 

 suffocation. The best published essay on the subject, 

 that of M. Pierre Megnin {Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 

 1880), was written at the instigation of Lord 

 Walsingham, and an English translation with two 

 coloured plates (1883) has been issued by Messrs. 

 West, Newman & Co. 



"Tuberculous disease" of the lungs and liver is 

 the result of overcrowding, inter-breeding, breeding 

 from weak stock, and rearing on tainted ground. 



" Cramp," which generally attacks chicks hatched 

 from purchased eggs and constitutionally weak stock, 

 is not a true " cramp," though causing lameness, but 

 a diseased condition of the leg bones, which become 

 brittle and are easily broken. The remedies for these 

 and other complaints may be found in Tegetmeier's 

 " Pheasants for Coverts and Aviaries," 3rd ed., 1897. 



