50 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



of feather. The normal healthy hen Grouse in August has already put off 

 most of the broad-barred spring plumage feathers of her nesting dress, and 

 is very much like the cock bird in appearance, with the same dark, red- 

 brown vermiculate or fine - barred plumage underneath, white - flecked or not 

 as the case may be, and with a mixture of old and new feathers above. 

 The legs and feet of a forward hen are already showing quite a fair growth 

 of white feathers, and the nails have all been shed. The claws are therefore 

 short and rather soft, and the transverse sulcus or groove at the point of 

 detachment is clearly marked. In the wings there may still be a number of 

 primaries to be changed. 



In the convalescent " piner," on the other hand, the case is often very 

 •different. She has still a most deplorably bleached and weathered breeding 

 plumage on her, with worn-out feathers, frayed or ragged, often with saw- 

 toothed edges, showing the unequal effect of wear and tear on the pale bufi" 

 pigmented and black pigmented parts. The bird in this belated plumage has 

 quite naked legs and feet and long unshed nails, or may at the most be just 

 showing the points of a new growth of feathers through the skin ; and in 

 this state she is conspicuously shabby and ill to look upon in comparison 

 with the splendid plumage recently acquired b)^ her healthy sisters, and by 

 the now almost universally healthy cocks. But the point above all others 

 to be remembered in this connection is that this hen is convalescent, and 

 still has a couple of months of good food and good weather, as a rule, 

 in which to complete her convalescence before the winter comes. 



If the spring outbreak of disease has been severe — that is, if the general 

 ■conditions of the preceding winter and early spring months have been such 

 ^.„ as to conduce to a heavy and widespread infection of the Grouse 



Different -' "^ 



effect of with the larval Trichostronqylus — then both cocks and hens will 



disease . 



in cocks be equally infested. But the breeding season and the concomitant 



and hens. s. j o 



needs of the two sexes are, from April onwards, quite distinct from 

 ■one another. 



The result of this is that there is often a large mortality of cocks in 

 April and in May, and a much less marked mortality of hens, probably 

 in the proportion of seven or eight cocks to one hen, but definitely occurring 

 in the same two months. 



There is no great mortality from Strongylosis in any other months of 

 the year and after May, the cocks are suddenly relieved and rapidly recover, 



