PHYSIOLOGY AND ANATOMY OF EED GROUSE 125 



pneumonic change in the tissue. As a matter of fact, however, the change is 

 at first superficial, and is more pronounced where the lung is in contact with the 

 liver. The staining gradually makes its w^ay, jJost-mortem, into the body of the 

 lung, so that in a few days a section shows fluid containing degenerating and 

 decomposing corpuscular debris which has leaked into the air spaces and has 

 produced the condition illustrated and described before now as the second stage 

 of pneumonia in Grouse. At this stage the colonies of bacteria block the blood 

 capillaries and form a characteristic feature ; hut this is a iwst-mortem feature. 



With regard to the liver there is very little to be said. It is an organ which 

 changes perhaps more rapidly post-mortem than any other, both in appearance 

 and in consistence, and yet more has been deduced from its post-mortem 



■^ Liver. 



appearance than from any of the more reliable indications of disease 

 in Grouse. If the liver be examined fresh, even from a bad case of Strongylosis, 

 it will be found to present a normally firm consistence and a healthy red 

 colour. It is true that it may, and probably always will, partake of the general 

 and at times localised abdominal congestion which characterises Strongylosis. 

 But this alters its normal appearance very little ivhen it is fresh, it may be a 

 slightly darker red, and it may be a little more friable, but the change is hardly 

 noticeable. The "black" and "tarry" livers may be ignored, unless they occur 

 in birds that have only quite recently died, as being indications of no value from 

 the diagnostic point of view. The staining even in a fairly fresh liver will often 

 be found upon section to be very superficial and to be creeping towards the 

 centre from the liver surface to the interior. Hence the first portion to show 

 the change right through is always the edge of the anterior lobes. 



The only examples of disease affecting the liver of birds which have been 

 examined by the Committee were cases of Coccidiosis, and even then the 

 connection with Coccidiosis could not be established with certainty as the 

 specimens referred to were also cases of recovery from wounds or mechanical 

 damage. 



Small areas of fatty degeneration and localised necrosis have been seen 

 in one or two cases, but have no apparent connection with Strongylosis. The 

 liver in cases of Strongylosis may be considered valueless, from a diagnostic 

 point of view, so far as macroscopic signs go. Microscopically it has been 

 shown to be possibly of more importance (see chapter xii.), and the changes 

 to be found j^ost-mortem are fully described by Professor Klein in his work 

 on " Grouse Disease." 



