PHYSIOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF RED GROUSE 107 



prepared for separation. At this point the ca3cal appendices (Pis. xxvr. 



cl, c2, XXVIII., Fig. 3 (i), xliv.) open into the main gut, and all that is 



soft is now squeezed into the narrow openings of the csecal appendices ; 



while all that is hard, including the indigestible part of the heather fragment, 



the indigestible woody fibres, and the refuse of the cellular tissues, is compressed 



into a firm, dry mass, and so passed straight into and along the rectum. 



Each caecal appendix measures from 30 to 36 inches (762 to 915 mm.) 

 in length. Their colour in health is a dull drab grey, while that of the small 

 intestine is greenish ; the diflPerence in colour between portions of the alimentary 

 canal are shown on PI. xxvii.. Fig. 1, representing the normal duodenum (d), 

 pancreas (e), small intestine (g), caecum (^). 



When excrement leaves the body of a normal healthy Grouse it does so in 

 two distinct forms. The firmer excrement described aboA-e passing through the 

 rectum leaves the body first, and either immediately, or after a Two forms 



of Gxcrs- 



short interval, the more fluid and pasty unabsorbed contents of the meut. 

 csecal appendices follow without having mixed at all with the dejecta of the 

 main gut. 



The dry and often quite hard Grouse " dropping," which outlasts much 

 weathering, can be seen on many moors without any particular search, some- 

 times at every yard or two upon bare burned ground, where it becomes bleached 

 almost white under the combined action of sun and wind before it is broken 

 up to be disseminated as dust. 



The matter is one of some importance, for the perfectly normal csecal dejecta 

 of the Grouse are so often considered abnormal, and even pathological, by game- 

 keepers and by sportsmen, and are so constantly credited with having some 

 mystic relation to " Grouse Disease " that it becomes necessary to explain 

 the appearances in detail. 



In walking over a well-stocked moor, in fairly dry weather. Grouse's droppings 

 are to be seen lying in small heaps upon the ground where birds have "jugged" 

 or roosted amongst the heather at night. It is sometimes surprising to see how 

 many of these compacted rolls of undigested woody fibre are passed by a single 

 bird in one night. 



Each hour throughout the roost there appears to be a separate motion, and 

 always of the hard " formed " dropping coming directly from the main gut, 

 and not of the pultaceous, soft, csecal matter. But, when morning comes, and 

 especially when the bird has moved to the neighbourhood of water for the 



