198 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



" (b) In the majority of instances in which the dead birds are found plump 

 .... the lungs show a great deal of congestion. 



"The lungs show deep coloration in the greater part of either one or both 

 organs, the hind portions being, in these cases, the ones chiefly affected ; or both 

 luno-s are uniformly congested, being in some cases of a dark purple-red colour. " ' 



On microscopic examination of the lung, Klein finds " that in the con- 

 gested parts the large and small vessels are uniformly distended and filled 

 with blood, and that the air spaces of the more deeply affected parts are 

 uniformly distended and filled with a homogeneous or granular exudation, 

 or with blood, so that in these parts we have a solidification of the lung which 

 compares with the condition known as the red hepatisation in pneumonia. 

 There is, however, no fibrine in the form of threads noticeable in the air 

 spaces ; the smaller air spaces contain blood en masse, while the large ones 

 are filled with a homogeneous albuminous exudation. From this we con- 

 clude that rupture of small vessels had taken place during life."^ 



To continue further with the pathological signs to which Klein has drawn 

 attention, "the larynx and trachea," he says, "exhibit a change in the mucous 

 membrane, which is of a dark colour, and hyperaemic, and this is the more 

 pronounced the more marked the lung-change. The spleen is not enlarged, 

 and appears of a dark colour. 



" The liver is uniformly congested and soft ; it is either of a dark red colour, 

 or appears almost black. On microscopic examination the large blood-vessels 

 as well as the capillaries of the lobules are distended and filled with blood 

 corpuscles. In some cases the liver, on post-mortem examination, is blackish, 

 or rather is of a dark olive-green colour. In these instances the liver cells 

 appear granular and more or less disintegrating, and contain dark brown 

 pigment granules, while the capillary blood-vessels are filled, not with blood 

 corpuscles, but with masses of amorphous pigment, the result of stasis and 

 disintegration of the blood corpuscles. 



" The kidneys are congested, in some instances leading to haemorrhage 

 into the tissue of the kidney. 



" The intestinal mucous membrane shows patchy congestion, and the same is 



the case with its serous covering, which in most instances is congested in many 



places, sometimes to a considerable extent. In some cases the peritoneum appears 



very moist in these localities ; that is to say, there is a small amount of exudation. 



> Klein, "Grouse Disease," p. 15. - IhiiL, p. 17. 



